Bloomberg spills the beans about Kazakhstan taking a turn in international arbitration. Lawsuits against the operators of the Kashagan oil field for about 12 billion dollars were rejected, but claims for about 8 billion dollars were accepted.
The dispute deals with the events of 2011-15, and its results are usually unpredictable. The claims are very different - both regarding loss of profits, and regarding illegal transactions of the North Kaspi operating consortium accompanied by bribery and artificially inflated costs, and regarding environmental damages.
At this stage, only one thing is clear: out of the total amount of claims of 150 billion dollars, the defendants will probably win back more than half.
But even in this case, NCOC will face insane penalties.
In the lengthy but most important story for Kazakhstan, one thing is surprising: why we learn about the details of the trials from a Western news agency, and not from our government. I would like to know where and why we lose, where and why we are able to defeat the defendant's defense.
It is a shame to say, but to this day there is not even a clear understanding of what exactly Kazakhstan is challenging, what exactly it presents to the NCOC.