PetroKazakhstan

Formerly known as Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd. the company was founded in 1981 and initially operated in Western Canada. It changed to a more international focus and grew after making several major oil and gas finds in Southern Kazakhstan, in 1991 becoming a partner in a JV to develop the Kyzylkiya, Aryskum, Maibulak and South Kumkol fields.

In 1996, it purchased Yuzhneftegaz from the Kazakh government, making it one of the largest players in the country.

However, the company ran into severe problems in the late 1990s. All the company's oil went through refineries owned by Central Asian Industrial Holdings N.V. (CAIH), a Dutch-registered offshore affiliate of Kazkommertsbank (KKB) Kazakhstan's leading banking group, which used their monopoly to charge high prices. At the same time, oil prices plunged. In 1999 the company was granted creditor protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act by order of the Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary and its finances were eventually restructured such that its business operations continued.

The company was saved by Bernard Isautier, a board member who had long been involved in the Canadian oil industry and in Central Asia. He became CEO and negotiated a merger with Central Asian Industrial Holdings N.V. From mid-October 1999 to 2000 Hurricane acquired 88.4% of OJSC Shymkentnefteorgsintez (now PetroKazakhstan Oil Products LLP) which owns the 160,000 bpd Shymkent Oil Refinery, the most modern of the country's three refineries (commissioned 1985). In doing so, Isautier put 30% of Hurricane's stock in CAIH's hands. This eventually made the investors in both companies very wealthy, especially Isautier who had demanded no salary and was at first only paid in stock options. The rapid increase in the stock's value made Isautier by far the most generously compensated executive in Canada in 2004.