Chairman of the Management Board, NC "QazaqGaz" JSC
Sanzhar Zharkeshov is an accomplished oil and gas industry leader with extensive international experience. He graduated from Kazakh University of Economics, Finance and International Trade with a degree in Finance, and earned a degree in Oil and Gas Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His career began as a Research Engineer at the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering in Texas (2008-2010), where he focused on improving oil and gas recovery through chemical technologies. He then joined ExxonMobil, serving in various roles, including Drilling Engineer in the USA and Iraq, and Senior Project Engineer for the Kashagan project in Kazakhstan (2010-2016). From 2016 to 2018, Sanzhar was the Head of Field Supervisors and Senior Drilling Engineer at Merlin ERD in Scotland. He further enhanced his expertise as a Managerial Adviser and Global Oil and Gas Industry Expert at McKinsey & Company, working on projects across multiple countries (2018-2019). In Kazakhstan, he served as Vice Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources (2019-2020) before becoming Deputy CEO for Geology and Development at Naftogaz in Ukraine (2020-2022). Since February 2022, he has been the Acting Chairman and subsequently Chairman of the Management Board of NC “QazaqGaz” JSC. Sanzhar is also a member of the Council of the British Institute of Mechanical Engineers and holds the prestigious title of Chartered Engineer.