Yagshigeldy Kakayev


Yagshigeldy Kakaev was a Turkmen politician and energy executive. He was the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan from 2012 to 2013 and from 2015 to 2017. In 2010, he served as acting Deputy Chairman. His career in government was primarily focused on oil and gas matters. From 2007 to 2016, he was the Director of the State Agency for Management of Hydrocarbons.

Biography

He was born in Görogly District in 1959, and in 1982 he graduated from the Turkmen Polytechnic Institute with a concentration in oil and gas exploration and mechanization. In his early career, he worked with the All-Russian Research Institute for Gas and later became head of the institute's department of oil and gas.
From 2007 to 2008, he was the chairman of Türkmengaz, the state owned natural gas company. In 2010, he took over the role of Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers on an acting basis from Baimurad Khodzhamukhammedov, who had been dismissed by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow for "unstatisfactory performance".
After his interim stint, he served twice more as the Deputy Chairman on a full-time basis. In 2017, he was dismissed by the president from this post because of weak control over the implmentation of the country's oil and gas strategy.
From 2017 until his death, he was an advisor to the President of Turkmenistan for oil and gas affairs.
Kakaev died from pneumonia on 8 July 2020. He had reportedly suffered from diabetes.