Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend V. Sharifov / Increasing the participation share of Kazakhstan State Company GazMunayGaz in the development project of Kashagan field will provide an opportunity to increase the influence of the State and may bring forward tougher State control of the financial part of the project, said an analyst of the assessment agency Argus Media, Rauf Huseynov.
The authorized organization for developing the project of Kashagan and its participants signed a Memorandum of Understanding as a result of talks within the Production Sharing Agreement. The participants reached an agreement to discuss the increase of GazMunayGaz's share in the project, which currently equals 8.33%. Several sources state that the share may be increased up to 17%.
"Increasing GazMunayGaz's share in the project will lead to a direct increase in the State Company's revenues, but it will not affect the acceleration and cost of the project," Huseynov said.
The cost of the project is assessed by Kazakhstan at $136bln. Oil production is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2010. Part of the oil will be exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
" Kazakhstan has been part of this before the fact for already a long time - the production [first oil] is expected to begin no earlier than the third quarter of 2010. It is impossible to accelerate it," Huseynov said. However, instead of approving new periods, Kazakhstan will demand more favorable conditions for GazMunayGaz's participation in the project.
Participants of the Agip KCO consortium, who are developing the project, include Italian ENI (operator of the project), French Total, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, ConocoPhillips, Inpex, and GazMunayGaz. Earlier, Kazakhstan stated that GazMunayGaz intends to become a collaborator on the project.
The available oil reserves of Kashagan are assessed at being at least 7-9bln barrels and the common geological oil reserves of the field at 38bln barrels.