Meeting: Nursultan Nazarbayev
- Astana 'has right to intervene'
- ExxonMobil named as odd man out
- Kashagan deal 'on horizon'
- Kashagan partners 'standing firm'
- Kazakhs 'may extend Kashagan deadline'
- Astana renews Kashagan attack
- Kashagan talks press ahead
- Kazakhstan eyes new oil tax
- Astana 'demands $7bn pay-out'
- Tillerson points finger
Nazarbayev steps in over Kashagan
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev is due to meet senior ExxonMobil officials today as talks on the future of the huge Kashagan oilfield continue, a source in the presidential administration said.
Kazakhstan is at odds with the Eni-led AgipKCO consortium over cost overruns and production delays at Kashagan.
AgipKCO partner ExxonMobil has resisted a proposed settlement plan which involves raising Kazakhstan's stake in the project via state-run outfit KazMunaiGaz.
The ExxonMobil delegation was in the Kazakh capital Astana to take part in a foreign investment conference, the source told Reuters, adding that Nazarbayev was also due to meet officials from Russia's Lukoil.
Kazakhstan wants the Kashagan consortium members to reduce their shareholdings to significantly raise KazMunaiGaz' 8.3% interest in the project. But ExxonMobil has opposed the proposal, the Kazakh energy ministry said earlier this week.
The US supermajor, which has an 18.52% stake in Kashagan, has not commented on the matter.
Kazakhstan is also seeking $7 billion in compensation for production delays, a source close to the talks has said.
Other AgipKCO partners are Eni, Shell and Total, which all hold stakes of similar size to ExxonMobil. Smaller stakes belong to ConocoPhilips, with 9.26%, and Japan's Inpex, with 8.33%.