KazMunayGas

Kazakh oligarch Daniyar Abulgazin, known as “Hurrem” by his adversaries, has earned this nickname after the Ottoman sultana who rose from being Suleiman the Magnificent’s concubine to his lawful wife and a powerful ruler of the palace. This comparison suggests that Abulgazin, like Hurrem, can manipulate any situation to achieve his goals.

Speculations are rife about the potential buyer for Lukoil Neftohim Burgas refinery, with Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR emerging as the primary contender, as reported by Trud newspaper.

Right now, in modern circumstances where there are heightened tensions among the global players, for Kazakhstan, the biggest challenge we see is to contribute to the reduction of these tensions among these key-players, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko told AGERPRES in an interview.

The Bucharest County court on Tuesday rejected the request for insolvency filed by the Romanian oil company Rompetrol SA, which is part of the Netherlands-based oil and gas group KMG International.

The reasoning of the judges had not been made public so far, but Rompetrol has seven days to appeal.

The negotiations between KazMunayGaz and the Romanian state over Rompetrol Refining will end in July, but the payment of 200 million dollars for a 26.6 pct stake in the refinery cannot be made in 2015, because 6 to 7 months are required to take all the necessary steps after the completion of the negotiations, Azamat Zhangulov, senior vice president of KMG International, said on Tuesday.

Romania's appeals court on Tuesday jailed a senator, Sorin Rosca Stanescu, for two years and four months for his involvement in a case seen as a test of Romania's ability to conduct high-level corruption trials.

Stanescu was found guilty of using privileged information and manipulating the stock exchange by underselling shares in the oil company Rompetrol and then buying them back.