Kazakhstan buys stake in massive gas field

A Kazakhstan oil and gas company will buy a 10 per cent stake in the giant Kazakh gas field owned by a global consortium that includes Chevron and ENI, the latter said yesterday.

The consortium will sell a 10 per cent stake in the Karatchaganak field to KazMunaiGaz for one $1 billion, it said in a statement.

The deal, which was signed in the Kazakh capital Astana and which will take effect on June 30, 2012, “represents a further step towards the strengthening of co-operation” between the Kazakh state and the consortium, it said.

As part of the agreement, “the Republic of Kazakhstan will allocate up to two million metric tons per year of preferential capacity rights in the CPC for transportation of liquids produced by the Karachaganak field until the end of the concession agreement in 2037,” the statement said.

In October Kazakh press reports said that Timur Kulibayev, head of the giant state holding company Samruk-Kazyna and son-in-law of veteran President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said that the state was ready to pay about $1 billion for a 10 per cent stake in the gas field.

KazMunaiGaz is a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna.

The massive Karachaganak field – the BG Group estimates its gas reserves at 1.36 trillion cubic metres – was discovered in 1979 but was only developed with the help of modern technology available to Western majors.