Page 15 - Kazakh Outlook 2022

As such, expectations of growth in the sector within the next 12 months
have been declining. Operating conditions in the sector will
nevertheless improve in the event of the pandemic ending.

4.4 Oil

Oil output fell by 0.8% y/y in January-November to 77.7mn tonnes. The
slight contraction was an overall improvement over major declines in oil
output registered in 2020 and earlier in 2021. With the trajectory of
Kazakhstan’s oil production heading towards recovery, oil output is
expected to swing back to expansion in 2022.

Kazakhstan’s state-run oil and gas producer KazMunayGas (KMG) saw
its net income rise sevenfold to $2.18bn in the first nine months of
2021, despite generally poor operational metrics. KMG’s output fell by
3% in the gas and oil segments, with an average 4.1bn cubic metres of
gas per day and 445,000 barrels of oil per day produced in the
nine-month period.

Despite the decline, the company’s revenues grew by 43.7% to
KZT4.7tn ($10.8bn) in the first nine months of 2021 from the same
period of 2020. Net income, attributable to shareholders, increased
fourfold to KZT947bn.

As a result of the better profitability, the firm generated KZT438bn of
free cash in the first nine months.

This, in turn, reduced net long-term debt by over 13.6% from 31
December 2020 to around KZT2.24tn as of 30 September 2021.

15 Kazakhstan Outlook 2022 www.intellinews.com