Yerbolat Yerkebulanov

Yerbolat Yerkebulanov
Overview
Experience
Awards
News
Publications

Yerbolat Yerkebulanov is a Partner and Head of Subsoil Use Department (Almaty) of GRATA International. He has extensive experience in advising international clients on issues related to Oil & Gas, Mining, M&As, EPC contracts, commercial agreements, regulated procurements,

Prior to joining GRATA International in November 2010 Yerbolat gained experience as a legal counsel in the largest cellular communications operating company in Kazakhstan (07/2001-01/2006) and in the company owning two hydrocarbons contracts (02/2006-10/2010).

He has substantial experience in undertaking and supervising work for a number of oil and gas, mining and services companies, including, inter alia, Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC), Rio Tinto, North Caspian Operating Company (Kashagan oil superfield), Polymetal, NordGold, Sinopec, Baker Hughes, Eurochem, Repsol, Pertamina, ENRC, CGNPC, Mubadala, MOL, JBIC, Tethys, MIE Holding, Severstal; or with regard to such companies as KPO (giant Karachaganak gas and condensate field), Maersk (Dunga field), Maten Petroleum, etc.

Education:

  • Al-Farabi Kazakh State National University, 1996-2001, Specialist (BA/MA equivalent) in International Law  ;
  • Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 2020-2022, LL.M in Civil Law.

Practices:

  • Natural Resources;
  • Contract Law;
  • M&As;
  • Infrastructural projects.

Languages:

  • English;
  • Kazakh;
  • Russian;
  • German (B2).

Membership:

  • Kazakhstan Bar Association (kazbar.org.kz) (2013 – present).

Publications:

Author of a number of articles and Kazakhstan-related chapters of comparative guides on general and (or) specific issues of Oil & Gas and Mining regulation in Kazakhstan in local and foreign mass media (incl. OGEL, ICLG, Mondaq, Chambers and Partners).

Some of his publications  are:

  • Kazakhstan: New Local Content Approach (OGEL, 2012);
  • On Both Sides of the Caspian Sea: a Comparative Analysis of the Investment Law in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan Exclusively for Petroleum Analytical Journal (2013);
  • Kazakhstan: New Investment Climate (2013);
  • Kazakhstan - Oil & Gas Regulation 2014 (ICLG, 2014);
  • Yerbolat Yerkebulanov’s interview in the newspaper “Drilling Solutions” (October 2015);
  • Kazakhstan: Procurement and National Suppliers (April 2016);
  • Mining Law 2016;
  • The International Comparative legal guide to: Mining Law 2017 (September 2016);
  • Key Potential Changes in Oil and Gas Regulation (April 2017);
  • Chapter Kazakhstan in Benchmarking Public Procurement 2017 by World Bank (on behalf of GRATA together with Zhibek Balabekova);
  • Translation of the New Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use for mining companies (March 2018);
  • Mining 2021: Kazakhstan (February 2021);
  • Oil & Gas Comparative Guide: Kazakhstan (January 2022);
  • Chapter 21: Kazakhstan ("Governing Law and Dispute Resolution in the Oil and Gas Industry" by Elgar Energy Law and Practice) (August 2022).

Made presentations on the state’s investment policy in Moscow, London, Aberdeen and Ashgabat (online seminar, organized by the OSCE Center in Ashgabat), as well as on legal aspects of doing business in Kazakhstan at meetings in Almaty organized by embassies of Indonesia, France, Malaysia.

Conducted about 50 seminars on issues of local content, procurement, reporting and inspections of subsoil users, construction of objects of oil and gas sphere, pledge of the subsoil use right, novelties of the Subsoil Code in Aksai (KPO), Atyrau (NCOC, TCO), Aktau, Borovoe, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, Astana and Almaty.

Industries

Mining

Oil & Gas

Experience
  • Advising numerous major international companies in connection with sale of shares in Kazakhstan companies, including subsoil users;
  • Advising numerous Kazakhstani and international companies in connection with the state pre-emptive right applicable to sale of subsoil users and strategic objects;
  • Advising a number of Kazakhstani and international companies on subsoil users’, Samruk-Kazyna and public procurement regulations in Kazakhstan, including local content requirements;
  • Advising numerous top-tier Kazakhstani companies in connection with commercial disputes in construction;
  • Advising international bank headquartered in Switzerland in connection with pledges over various types of immovable and movable property in Kazakhstan;
  • Advising an international oil company in connection with acquisition of a major Kazakhstani oil deposit;
  • Advising international bank in connection with providing credit facility to a Kazakhstani subsoil user, including due diligence;
  • Advising Kazakhstani and international clients in connection with drafting various types of complex commercial agreements, including bareboat charter agreement and agreement for drilling exploration wells;
  • Advising subsoil users in connection with drafting subsoil contracts for production stage based on model subsoil contract, including participation in negotiations of the contract with Kazakhstani authorities;
  • Advising an international bank in connection with collateral over land plots and commodities for the value over US$ 200 million;
  • Advising a consortium of major Kazakhstani and Russian energy producers in connection with reconstruction of the largest electrical energy producing enterprise in Kazakhstan, including drafting of EPC contracts. Total project value – over US$ 700 million. 
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Legal 500 EMEA, Leading Individual, 2024

News

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GRATA International practices and lawyers ranked high in Legal 500 EMEA 2024

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Partner of GRATA International, Kazakhstan, lectured at the seminar: Promoting regional economic connectivity

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Yerbolat Yerkebulanov held a corporate webinar titled Legal Support for Construction in the Oil and Gas Sector, organized by GSS Training Center

Publications

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Oil & Gas Comparative Guide 2024: Kazakhstan

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Oil & Gas Comparative Guide: Kazakhstan

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Mining 2021: Kazakhstan