Kazakhstan, a fossil-fuel-dependent economy, faces growing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining industrial competitiveness. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCS/CCUS) technologies offer a viable pathway for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, particularly in power generation, metallurgy, and oil and gas processing. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the state of CCS/CCUS technologies globally and examines their applicability within Kazakhstan. The study also explores long-term CO₂ storage mechanisms and monitoring frameworks, with attention to carbon leakage risks and the importance of addressing methane emissions. A critical part of the analysis is dedicated to Kazakhstan’s Emissions Trading System, identifying its current limitations such as low carbon prices, and limited sectoral coverage, and outlining practical reforms to enhance its role in supporting CCS/CCUS and broader decarbonization efforts. The integration of CCS/CCUS with a strengthened ETS, combined with access to international climate finance instruments and voluntary carbon markets, is proposed as a key strategy for Kazakhstan’s transition to a low-carbon economy. By linking engineering innovation with targeted policy interventions, this study offers a dual-perspective contribution. It not only provides technical insights into CCS/CCUS technologies but also presents policy recommendations that are specifically tailored to Kazakhstan’s context. The findings reinforce the role of CCS/CCUS as a crucial component of national climate strategy and industrial transformation.

In order to establish the formation patterns of the Co–Mg oxide system, samples with different Co:Mg ratios and heat treatment temperatures were synthesized and studied. A study of the samples confirmed the phase transition of Mg_xCo_2–xO₄ spinels into the corresponding solid solutions at 800–900 °C. The similarity of the formation patterns for different compositions is shown. The rocksalt oxide in low-temperature samples is an anion-modified paracrystalline phase that forms a “true” solid solution only upon spinel decomposition. The TPR profiles of the decomposed Co₃O₄ spinel show surface Co₃O₄ peaks and a wide peak corresponding to the well-crystallized CoO, while partial Co₃O₄ TPR up to 380 °C results in dispersed and amorphous CoO. The high-temperature non-stoichiometric samples are poorly reduced, indicating their low oxygen reactivity. Spinel reoxidation after heat treatment to 1100 °C by calcination at 750 °C showed complete regeneration for MgCo₂O₄–Co₃O₄ samples and its absence in case of an excess of MgO relative to stoichiometry.

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) is globally recognized as a key strategy to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions and address the climate change. Geological storage in oil and gas fields and saline aquifers offers a promising long-term solution, with growing research focusing on modeling, monitoring, and optimizing the storage performance. This study contributes to Kazakhstan’s national CCUS initiative by presenting the methodology and outcomes of constructing a conceptual geological and hydrodynamic model of the Zaisan sedimentary basin located in East Kazakhstan. By integrating structural, lithological, and petrophysical data from 23 wells, a high-resolution 3D geological framework was developed. This model successfully identified a structurally isolated zone within the Sarybulak field that exhibits highly favorable characteristics for the CO2 storage, including minimal faulting, adequate reservoir thickness, high porosity, and high-water saturation. These features collectively highlight that the Sarybulak field is a highly promising candidate for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) deployment and reinforce the potential of the Zaisan basin as a strategic site for future large-scale carbon storage operations in Kazakhstan.

In order to establish the formation patterns of the Co–Mg oxide system, samples with different Co:Mg ratios and heat treatment temperatures were synthesized and studied. Study of the sam-ples confirmed the phase transition of MgxCo2–xO4 spinels into corresponding solid solutions at 800–900 °C. The similarity of formation patterns for different compositions is shown. The rock-salt oxide in low-temperature samples is an anion-modified paracrystalline phase that forms a “true” solid solution only upon spinel decomposition. TPR profiles of decomposed Co3O4 spinel show surface Co3O4 peaks and a wide peak corresponding to well-crystallized CoO, while par-tial Co3O4 TPR up to 380 °C results in dispersed and amorphous CoO. High-temperature non-stoichiometric samples are poorly reduced, indicating their low oxygen reactivity. Spinel reoxidation after heat treatment to 1100 °C by calcination at 750 °C showed complete regenera-tion for MgCo2O4–Co3O4 samples and its absence in case of an excess of MgO relative to stoi-chiometry. Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the processes governing the formation of Co–Mg oxide systems are determined by both Co:Mg ratio and the heat treatment conditions, potentially providing the possibility of fine tuning for specific catalytic processes.

This study presents the results of an investigation of carbonate-containing sorbents for CO₂ capture with natural support materials—kaolin and calcium carbonate—at various loadings of the active phase of Na₂CO₃. The effects of the support type on the distribution of the active component, phase composition, and pore structure of the sorbents were studied. It was found that a Na₂CO₃ loading of 25 wt.% provides the best balance between sorption capacity and technological feasibility. The thermal stability and regeneration capacity of the sorbents were evaluated under high-temperature conditions, revealing high thermal stability of the Na₂CO₃/CaCO₃ system up to 1000 °C, along with its durability over multiple adsorption–desorption cycles. Kinetic studies on the Na₂CO₃/CaCO₃ sorbent using the shrinking core model demonstrated that the overall CO₂ chemisorption process is controlled by surface chemical reaction at temperatures below 50 °C. The obtained results demonstrate the high potential of CaCO₃-based sorbents for practical applications in low-temperature CO₂ capture technologies. A promising direction for the use of such sorbents within CCUS is the development of integrated systems, where CO₂ capture is combined with its conversion into valuable products (e.g., methane, methanol, formic acid) through catalytic processes.

The composition of hydrocarbon systems plays an essential role in ensuring reliability in field operation processes, the design of oil onshore facilities, and the availability of reliable information about the PVT properties of systems. In this article, experimental and numerical methods are used to obtain data on the component composition of the extracted oil products and their PVT properties. These methods help obtaining a detailed composition and phase state of the hydrocarbon system. The numerical delumping method is utilized in this article. It is worth noting that all calculations were made on the basis of data on the component composition of Kazakhstani oil samples. The results and comparative evaluation show that the proposed delumping mix-method has excellent consistency with the data obtained with experiments and with the Nichita’s analytical approach. In the future, the results on the detailed composition can improve and link the compositional modeling of the reservoir with the modeling of surface structures.