BRITISH-KAZAKH SOCIETY
ENERGY GROUP COMMITTEE
OBJECTIVES
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The Oil, Gas, and Renewables Group committee has the objective of facilitating communication and networking for members and interested parties in the oil, gas, and renewables industry in Kazakhstan and the UK.
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THE COMMITTEE
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The Committee is composed of the following individuals: Rustam Kuanshaliyev, Anatoly Leontiev, John Morrow, Nicholas Pomeroy (Chairman), Biplab Rakshi, Yerlan Ramazanov, Fergus Robertson and David Skeels. Their biographies are shown below.
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GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT ACTIVITIES & PLANS
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The committee plans to have a number of events during each year with guest speakers actively involved in this sphere. Both Society members and non-members are invited to express their interest, in participation/joining our mailing list, to Membership Secretary (secretariat@bksoc.org.uk).
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COMMITTEE MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES
Rustam Kuanshaliyev is the Vice-President and Co owner of IGS, a leading multidiscipline construction and asset management company in Western Kazakhstan (heart of the Eurasian oil and gas realm). Rustam over the last 14 years has worked in the upstream industry leading teams in the regions most complex oil&gas projects developing the onshore facilities of the petrochemical complex of Kashagan (site prep. and utilities In Karabotan), the sweeting of the train 4 of the Karachaganak oil&gas condensate field and the asset development projects for Chevrons SGI and SGP projects in Tengiz and Korolev Fields. Rustam has a foundation in Mechanical Engineering (BEng) and later on went on to specialize in Innovation Management at Imperial College London (MSc). Rustam leads IGS’ UK establishment as well as being a director of a Kazakh Renewables company KazSolar.​
Anatoly Leontiev - Senior Regional Corporate Relations Advisor for CIS Countries, Shell. Anatoly has over 25 years of Government Relations/External Affairs professional experience having worked in diverse stakeholder environments across CIS countries. Anatoly joined Shell in 1999 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan – this is where he is originally from. Since then, he worked in government affairs and public relations roles on different assignments in Central Asia, subsequently representing GR expertise in NBD projects in a wider region. With Shell Kazakhstan he has been for more than 15 years where in addition to his primary government relations duties he was managing special Shell led projects, including Kazakhstan Oil and Gas Technology Roadmap, Geochemical Center of Excellence in Atyrau, Shell flagship Pavilion at EXPO 2017, deployment of solar systems in key cities in KZ under the solar for schools’ initiative. In his current role he leads on corporate relations regional activity supporting the existing business and NBD opportunities in the region with particular focus on countries where Shell is not directly present, that covers Central Asia and Caucasus.
John Morrow - is a Chartered Engineer and has over 30 years of experience in oil and gas. John was head of exploration and production at Glencore plc from 2011 to 2019. Prior to that he was COO at Bowleven plc. He spent 10 years at BG Group from 1995 where he was Managing Director for the giant Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan. He subsequently worked as project director for Middle East LNG. John spent the first 15 years of his career at Royal Dutch Shell where he held operational and commercial roles in the UK, Malaysia and the Netherlands.
Nicholas Pomeroy (Chairman) - Nicholas Pomeroy is a Director of the British–Kazakh Society and Chairman of the Society’s Energy Committee, with more than 25 years’ experience supporting UK-Kazakhstan engagement in the energy sector and related areas of governance and long-term bilateral cooperation. He has been associated with Kazakhstan since 1999 and has lived and worked permanently in the country since 2003, holding senior leadership roles with a range of international engineering and professional services companies operating in the country. His experience spans large-scale energy projects, organisational leadership, and cross-cultural collaboration between UK and Kazakh institutions, including sustained support for local content development, skills transfer, and national capability-building within the energy sector, and participation in the UK Prime Minister’s official trade delegation to Kazakhstan. Nicholas currently serves as Consular Warden for West Kazakhstan, a voluntary role supporting the British Embassy and providing assistance to UK nationals in the region. Alongside his civil-society and public-interest roles, he is the founder of AngloKazakh, a UK-registered platform supporting long-horizon engagement between British and Kazakhstani organisations in the energy and related sectors, operating separately from his work with the Society.
Biplab Rakshi - is the Managing Director of Atomic Acquisitions, a specialist nuclear advisory and intermediatory consultancy engaged in the SMR and AMR sector. He is the co-author of the UK Government’s 2015 report on micro nuclear. Biplab has a long history in civil nuclear development. Biplab has over three decades leadership experience in multinational energy and infrastructure companies covering oil and gas, utilities and nuclear; expertise that spans technology development, stakeholder relations, M&A and post-merger integration. Biplab is passionate about the role of SME’s in large infrastructure projects and represented the voice of 3,000 business during his tenure as Chairman of the Institute of Directors, East of England. As a regular contributor to conferences/seminars including OECD/House of Lords, Biplab’ s area of interest is decarbonisation in partnership with renewables/industry. His focus is corporate strategy, risk management and governance.
Yerlan Ramazanov - serves as the Deputy Head for Kazakhstan Energy and Regional Head of Energy Eurasia at the EBRD. He oversees the Bank’s energy portfolio across Eurasia, guiding strategic project development in Kazakhstan and the wider region. Before joining the EBRD, he held senior roles in investment and valuation. Yerlan holds degrees from al‑Farabi Kazakh National University and the New Economic School.
Fergus Robertson - has over 35 years international experience in oil & gas senior management. In 1998 he formed Strategic Partners International introducing global oil & gas contractors to Kazakh partners, government and major operators creating successful joint ventures. During nearly 20 years in the Caspian region, mainly Kazakhstan, he won substantial contracts for the UK oil & gas sector. He was the First Honorary Consul for the RoK in Scotland, was a Member Advisory Board of the Kazakh & British Technical University and founding director of The British Kazakh Society.
David D Skeels - is currently a Director of Eurasian Energy Ventures Limited a consultancy for upstream oil and gas in the Eurasia area. His career has included over 20 years with Conoco in technical and managerial positions in exploration and field development. This was followed by a 10 year career with BG Group as General Manager BG Kazakhstan. More recent years have included working with DEA as a Representative in Azerbaijan and Advisor for Central Asia based in Kazakhstan. He was the founding Chairman of the Kazakhstan Petroleum Association and founding Chairman of the Kazakhstan Foreign Investors Council Association. David also hold the position of Director at British-Kazakh Society.