Enforcement proceedings to recover money from North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) in favour of the state have been temporarily suspended due to a court challenge to the actions of the state bailiff. The Ministry of Justice stressed that recovery would continue once the materials were returned from court.
WHAT IS KNOWN
According to the Ministry of Justice press service, NCOC has challenged the actions of the state bailiff. In connection with this, the Specialised Inter-District Administrative Court of Atyrau Region has requested the enforcement proceedings materials.
For the period during which the materials are with the court, the enforcement proceedings are suspended. This requirement is contained in Article 42, Paragraph 13 of the Law "On Enforcement Proceedings and the Status of Bailiffs".
WHEN RECOVERY WILL RESUME
The Ministry of Justice stated that the temporary suspension of the procedure does not mean the state has abandoned its recovery of money from NCOC.
Once the materials are returned by the court, the recovery work will continue in accordance with the procedure established by law.
CONTEXT
The dispute over the environmental fine for NCOC has been developing since 2022, when an environmental inspection was carried out at the Kashagan field. As a result, complaints arose regarding the storage of sulphur in excess of permitted volumes.
In March 2023, it became known that Kazakhstan had filed a lawsuit against the company for approximately 2.3 trillion tenge. As reported by the Ministry of Ecology, the claims related, among other things, to the storage of sulphur in volumes exceeding those permitted.
Already in April 2023, NCOC challenged the actions of the Ecology Department of Atyrau Region in court. The company sought to overturn the act ordering preventive control and supervision, as well as the instruction to remedy violations. The department, for its part, reported that the inspection results also concerned the uncontrolled release of hazardous raw gas substances totalling 842 thousand tonnes. The operator disagreed with this position and stated that no emergency releases had occurred.
In February 2024, the court's appellate panel issued a ruling on the dispute. Earlier, the court had overturned 3 of the 10 environmental violations identified, but the appellate instance upheld the lawfulness of the fines. The total amount of environmental claims came to 2.3 trillion tenge.
After the court ruling came into force, NCOC was offered the opportunity to comply voluntarily. The voluntary compliance deadline expired on 20 July 2026, after which the state moved to enforced recovery. On 21 July, enforcement proceedings were initiated and restrictions were imposed on the consortium's property and vehicles.
On 7 September 2026, the status of the enforcement proceedings changed to "suspended".
