Dispute: over Kashagan
- Showdown due over Kashagan
- Kazakhs demand Kashagan driving seat
- Total pares back its output targets
- Eni to stay at Kashagan helm
- ‘Top Shell man quits Kashagan’
- Astana 'wants $10bn Kashagan pay-out'
- Astana may extend Kashagan ban
- Kazakhs 'wants Kashagan compensation'
- Moving goalposts on oil playing field
- EU 'may act over Kashagan'
- Eni postpones Kashagan visit
Astana waits on Kashagan cash offer
Kazakhstan is still waiting for the Eni-led AgipKCO consortium to make an offer of compensation to the state for delays and cost overruns at the giant Kashagan development, the country's Deputy Finance Minister Daulet Yergozhin said today.
"We are waiting for them to make a proposal," Yergozhin told Reuters.
"No proposal was made on 5 September," he said in reference to an earlier deadline announced by the government.
Meanwhile, Eni said its board met today to discuss the Kashagan row.
Chief executive Paolo Scaroni "explained the activity under way in the Kashagan field and brought members up to date on the current state of relations" between the Eni-led consortium and the Kazakh government as well as his upcoming trip to Kazakhstan, Eni said in a statement.
Yergozhin's comments came a day after Prime Minister Karim Masimov demanded a leading role for its state energy company KazMunaiGaz in running Kashagan. The government is also seeking more than $10 billion in compensation for the delays.
The Caspian Sea oilfield was orginally scheduled to start production in 2005, but the date has repeatedly slipped - first oil is now forecast for the second half of 2010 - and costs have soared.
Yergozhin also welcomed comments from consortium member Total this week about the need to speed up negotiations. Work at Kashagan has been suspended as part of the row, which includes Kazakh accusations of environmental damage.
"It's good that they are proposing to speed up the process," Yergozhin said. "We are open to dialogue."
The other participants in the Kashagan consortium are Shell, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Japan's Inpex Holdings.