Kazakhstan, Astana, Feb. 14 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
The Kazakh Oil and Gas Ministry fined subsoil users in 2012 a total of 350 million tenge ($2.33 million), executive secretary of the Kazakh Oil and Gas Ministry Kanatbek Safinov said at the forum of oil and gas companies 'Oil and Gas: Kazakh Content 2013' today.
"Kazakhstan obtained the right to impose penalties for non-performance of contractual obligations on local content since 2010," he said. "The Oil and Gas Ministry began to collect fines since 2011 for the first time. As of 2011, we imposed fines amounting to 180 million Tenge (150.53 tenge = $1) as of 2011 for non-performance of such obligations and 350 million tenge as of 2012."
He said that around 21 companies out of 25 debtors have paid fines to the budget of the Republic, adding that there is a decrease in violations of procurement rules by subsoil users.
"The subsoil users made a purchase amounting to 157.6 billion tenge with violations in 2010 and 148 billion tenge in 2011," he said. "The dynamics changed dramatically in 2012. The total amount of purchases made with violations amounted to only 18.4 billion tenge."