OREANDA-NEWS. January 3, 2012. JSC "KMG EP" ("KMG EP" or the "Company") has announced that as of 22 December 2011 the Chairman of the Management Board (CEO) Askar Balzhanov has resigned from his position. Alik Aidarbayev, the current Chairman of the Board of directors has been appointed the Chairman of the Management Board (CEO). Mr Sisengali Utegaliyev will act as Chairman of the Board of directors until the election of a new chairman.

Alik Aidarbayev was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of KMG EP at a regular meeting of the Board of Directors on 6 May 2011. Mr Aidarbayev graduated from Kazakh Polytechnic Institute named after V.Lenin, has been working in oil and gas industry since 1985 and passed through all stages of professional development in the sphere of oil and gas production. He was a senior geologist, worked as a technologist and oil and gas production foreman at “Zhetybayneft" field office, the division of “Mangyshlakneft”. Over the years, he held senior positions in the production association "Yuzhkazneftegaz”; served as General Director of JSC “Turgai-Petroleum” and JSC “Mangistaumunaigaz”. Since April 2011 – Managing Director on Exploration and Production of National Company KazMunayGas.

KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil and gas producers. The overall production in 2010 was 13.3mt (an average of 270kbopd) of crude oil, including the Company’s share in Kazgermunai, CCEL, PKI and NBK. The total volume of proved and probable reserves, as at the end of 2010 was 232mt (1.7bn bbl), including shares in the associates - about 2.2bn barrels. The Company’s shares are listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the GDRs are listed on The London Stock Exchange. The Company raised over USD 2bn in its IPO in September 2006. The International rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) confirmed KMG EP’s “BBB-” corporate credit rating in December 2011 and “GAMMA-6” rating in September 2011.