2.2 billion tenge for the largest methane leak—"Buzachi Oil" has started to pay the fine.

“Additionally, earlier, based on the request of the same prosecutor's office, the LLP "Buzachi Neft" was fined 362 million tenge for violating environmental regulations in connection with the accident that occurred, which has been paid in full,” the statement reads.

In September 2024, the specialized inter-district economic court of Almaty ruled to collect over 2.2 billion tenge from the company "Buzachi Neft" along with a fee exceeding 68 million tenge for the damage caused by the accident at the Karaturun South field.

The accident at the field resulted in a methane leak, one of the largest in the world. Following the leak, a fire broke out at the well, which was extinguished over 200 days: from June 9 to December 25, 2023.

Experts estimate that the volume of the methane leak amounted to 127 thousand tons. The environmental impact of such an emission is comparable to the exhaust of 717 thousand gasoline cars over the course of a year.

The company initially acknowledged only a minor leak, but the accident turned out to be so extensive that its traces could not be concealed — researchers detected them from space.