Kazakhstan, which has announced plans to review a number of contracts with foreigner players, will not target its largest project Kashagan, Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said today. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said this year contracts protecting oil ventures from tax changes must be reviewed but did not name any of them. The development of Caspian offshore field Kashagan, the world's largest oil discovery in 40 years, is covered by a production sharing agreement between Eni, Total, Shell, ConocoPillips, ExxonMobil, Inpex and Kazakh state company KazMunaiGas. But Mynbayev said it was not a target of the review. "(Such work) is not being done with regards to Kashagan," Reuters quoted him as telling reporters. Commercial production at the field is due to start in 2013.
Two other large projects with tax stability clauses are Chevron-led Tengiz and Karachaganak, which is developed by Eni, BG, Lukoil and Chevron. Mynbayev declined to comment on Tengiz and said talks were under way with Karachaganak "on a broad range" of issues. The government has accused the Karachaganak consortium of tax evasion this year and said it wanted a stake in the venture which is Kazakhstan's top gas producer. Karachaganak group says it has obeyed the law.
