Baku, Azerbaijan, March 18
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan Kanat Bozumbayev hopes to sign an agreement with Lukoil on the development of another oil block in Kazakhstan by the end of the first half of 2019, Trend reports via Kazakh media.
"The development of another block is under discussion now. I think it will be great if we sign the same document in the first half of the year," Bozumbayev said.
Earlier it was reported that Lukoil is interested in two blocks: Zhenis and 1P2. Regarding Zhenis, an agreement on principles has already been concluded.
Bozumbayev noted that companies should soon pay a bonus to join the Zhenis project.
“Kazmunaygas and Lukoil have already created a joint venture. The companies have already held direct negotiations with us. Now it’s up to Kazmunaygas and Lukoil, they have to pay the bonus and come to us for the conclusion of a contract for subsoil use," Minister said.
In the same year, the companies plan to begin exploration on this block, added Bozumbayev.
In June 2018, LUKOIL and KazMunayGas signed an agreement on principles for the Zhenis block in the Kazakhstani sector of the Caspian Sea, which assumes that the parties will form a consortium and hold negotiations with the competent authorities of Kazakhstan to obtain subsoil use rights in this sector.
The first stage involves investment of about $60 million, this is drilling one of the wells and seismic work, the second stage is $ 210 million. Exploration began from the beginning of 2019.
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