Fitch: Kashagan unlikely to issue dividends before 2024 while Tristangate freeze in place

Ratings agency Fitch has stated that while KazMunayGas’s (KMG) stake in the Kashagan oil field remains frozen in relation to the Tristangate dispute, dividends are unlikely to be paid until 2024. Its latest ratings report notes that “we do not expect a dividend distribution from this asset as long as the stake remains frozen under a longstanding dispute between Kazakhstan and the Stati Parties.

“The Fitch note also observes that KMG’s call option with Samruk-Kazyna on its stake in the Kashagan oil field, valid until 2022, remains “uncertain” while the stake is frozen by the Dutch courts. In December 2020, the Dutch Supreme Court set aside the Amsterdam Court of Appeal’s decision related to the Kashagan stake, valued at US$5.2 billion, but the attachment remained in place as security for the award of more than US$540 million payable to the owners and bondholders of Tristan Oil.

The stake in Dutch entity KMG Kashagan B.V. is held by Kazakhstan through its sovereign wealth fund JSC Samruk-Kazyna.