KAZAKHSTAN: Work halted at Kashagan Oilfield - Kazakhstan puts pressure on Western oil consortium

Record ID: 610661

  • Title: KAZAKHSTAN: Work halted at Kashagan Oilfield - Kazakhstan puts pressure on Western oil consortium
  • Date: 28th August 2007
  • Summary: (BN12) ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN (AUGUST 27, 2007) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE BY KAZAKHSTAN EMERGENCY MINISTRY (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SERGEI DIRIN SPOKESMAN FOR KAZAKHSTAN EMERGENCY MINISTRY SAYING: "The Fire Prevention Committee of the Emergency Ministry of Kazakhstan has concluded after inspection of the fire precautions put in place by the oil company Agip in Kazakhstan, throu
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kazakhstan
  • Country: Kazakhstan
  • Topics: Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA7HTEU8FK3UGAWTJOCZI0HI83O
  • Story Text: Kazakhstan suspended work at the Kashagan oilfield on Monday (August 27), citing a catalogue of violations by the consortium of Western companies drilling there.
    Kazakhstan's approach, chiefly listing environmental issues, echoed Russia's row with Royal Dutch Shell, which ended with the oil firm losing control of a major oilfield to the Russian state gas monopoly last year.
    Kashagan's start-up delays have long irked Kazakhstan, which has threatened to revoke a permit, held by the consortium led by Italy's Eni to exploit the world's biggest oil find in decades.
    In a further twist, the Kazakh prime minister Karim Masimov replaced the energy minister -- a key figure overseeing Kashagan -- with Sauat Mynbayev, the head of the state asset management firm Samruk.
    In another allegation, the Finance Ministry's customs committee said it had uncovered customs violations at the deposit.
    Serzhan Duisebayev, acting head of the customs committee, told reporters in Astana the violations concerned the imports of two helicopters, with a tax value of nearly five million U.S. dollars, adding that a criminal case would be opened against unidentified consortium officials.
    Adding further fuel to the row, Sergei Dirin, spokesman for the Kazakhstan Emergency Ministry told reporters it was suing Kashagan operators due to violations of fire safety rules. It said it would seek to halt construction of an oil and gas processing facility there.
    The failings, he said, occured during construction of the oil platform and it was not possible to correct them.
    The former energy minister, Baktykozha Izmukhambetov, said in July the government was in talks to revise the share of profit oil for Kazakhstan to 40 percent from 10 percent.
    Kashagan's AgipKCO consortium on the Caspian Sea also includes Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp, Total, ConocoPhillips, Japan's Inpex Holdings Inc and the Kazakh oil company KazMunaiGas. Eni shares were down 1.05 percent at 24.60 euros at 1200 GMT.
    The consortium has put off the original startup of the world's biggest oilfield discovery in 30 years to 2010 from an original target of 2005.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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