Kazakhstan: Officials Jubilant Over Oil-Field Renegotiation Deal

The renegotiation of a deal covering the development of the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan indicates that the balance of power in the Caspian Basin energy game is tipping.

Kazakhstan clinched the new deal with a foreign-dominated consortium, led by the Italian energy giant Eni SpA, on January 13. The agreement followed a standoff over rising costs and delays in oil production that had dragged out for six months. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In the days following the announcement, analysts proclaimed the big winner to be the Kazakhstani government.

But if independent analysts are hailing the new deal as a coup, Kazakhstan's leaders believe it represents the restoration of a genuine partnership. "Now the balance of justice has been restored," President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in remarks broadcast by Khabar TV, adding that the agreement was a compromise that satisfied all interests. Meanwhile, the Megapolis newspaper carried a hubristic headline, "Great Oil Victory," over a story about the new pact. "KazMunayGaz and the government have shown who is boss," the newspaper article proclaimed.

Under the terms, Kazakhstan's national energy company, KazMunayGaz (KMG), will double its stake in the Kashagan project and gain extra income of up to $20 billion over the life of the project. KMG is expected to spend roughly $1.78 billion in obtaining shares from the consortium's Western partners – a price that some analysts pegged at way below market value. "We have agreed that Kazakhstan will purchase on a proportional basis from all existing shareholders in the project an extra stake, and as a result the country's share in the project will be 16.81 percent," Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said in comments broadcast by Khabar TV.

The deal means KMG's stake will be equal to those held by the largest Western shareholders, including Eni, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total. Each energy giant will reduce their stake in the consortium from 18.52 percent to 16.81 percent. The other investors – ConocoPhillips with 9.26 percent and Inpex with 8.33 percent - will sell KMG the remaining 1.64 percent. The deal runs through 2041.

Kashagan represented the largest potential oil jackpot found in 35 years when it was discovered in 2000. The field, located in the northern Caspian Sea, has an estimated 13 billion barrels of recoverable reserves. In 2007, the consortium announced that development costs would balloon to $136 billion – more than double the original estimate – and that the start-up date would slip from 2008 to 2010. [The new deal now sets a later target of 2011]. The consortium had already delayed the original production date from 2005 to 2008.

The Kazakhstani government in 2007 reacted furiously to the latest over-runs and delays. Officials complained that the delay would force the country to downscale output targets from 3.2 million barrels per day in 2015 – by which time Kazakhstan hopes to double oil output and become one of the world's top 10 energy producers - to 2.6 million barrels. Officials also said the delays were so significant as to jeopardize the government's election-year pledges to boost social infrastructure. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"My sense is that [the government] does want to pump some money into Kazakhstan and its economy, building up its infrastructure.