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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 22:10 GMT | more >>

Tillerson hits out over Kashagan delays



By Upstream staff 

ExxonMobil boss Rex Tillerson has reportedly lashed out at the government of Kazakhstan, saying Astana is delaying the development of the giant Kashagan project in the Caspian Sea.

"It is time for the government of Kazakhstan to stop delaying the project, [to] be supportive of the consortium and see the project through to a successful start-up," Tillerson, ExxonMobil chief executive, told a news conference at the World Petroleum Conference in Madrid yesterday, London’s Financial Times reported.

Tillerson said the consortium developing the field had already poured $17 billion dollars into the project amid delays, soaring costs and demands from Kazakstan that it be given a bigger slice of the project via state oil company Kazmunaigas. The project has yet to start production.

Production, which is set to peak at 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, is now set to start in 2013, eight years behind its original schedule.

Earlier this week Kazakh Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev threatened new sanctions against consortium members if further deadlines were missed.

Christophe de Margerie chief executive of fellow consortium member Total, said he agreed with Tillerson’s comments, the paper said. He said Total and ExxonMobil had both believed earlier start-up dates were too optimistic.

The Kashagan project is being developed by a consortium of ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Italy’s Eni, France’s Total and others.


Wednesday, 02 July, 2008, 04:12 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 02 July, 2008, 04:12 GMT

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