Kazakhstan has priority right to buy the stake of British Gas Company in the international consortium
Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resource Minister Vladimir Shkolnik declared that Kazakhstan has priority right to buy the stake of British Gas Company in the international consortium Agip KCO, which explores oil in the Northern Caspian.
?In accordance with the PSA, Kazakhstan is not a third party in relation to members of the consortium that have priority rights. Article 6 of the constitution runs that the right to subsoil resources belongs to the state. This is also set down in the Civil Code, and also in the law on subsoil resources and on oil," Shkolnik said. "Therefore we consider that we have rights here, and now we are involved in difficult legal dialogue.?
The partners in Agip KCO are ENI, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalFinaElf, each with 16.67% interest, and ConocoPhillips and INPEX, each with 8.33%. BG has announced its withdrawal from the project and the other participants will buy its 16.67% share.
The Kazakh government announced its plans to acquire this stake at market value in June.
