A unit of Baker Hughes, the third-biggest oilfield services company in the world, has pleaded guilty to bribing Kazakh middlemen to win business on the Karachaganak field. According to this news report, the company was already talking to the Kazakh goverment back in 2002/2003 about “settling cases related to the investigations”.

Now, the company has to pay all profits earned in Kazakhstan plus a hefty civil penalty and court charges, adding up to a whopping $44 million fine. The amount of information available is pretty stunning and gives a rare glimpse into the mechanisms of how to make deals with Kazakhoil (now Kazmunaigaz), namely via “third party commercial agents”. Fairly sketchy if you ask me. (more…)