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.
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.
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).
[1] 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.