Kazak Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev said on February 12th that Italian energy major Eni could be named operator of the Offshore Kazakstan International Operating Co. (OKIOC) to develop the massive Kashagan oil field.
Tokayev said that: “I do not know for sure, but as for the first results, the talk is about Agip.” The prime minister’s comments came as the nine-member OKIOC consortium was meeting with the Kazak government to discuss the Kashagan operatorship.
Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbayev had called on the consortium to select an operator in January, with many industry insiders speculating that French-Belgian oil giant TotalFinaElf would clinch the position.
TotalFinaElf had expressed interest in the role and had announced on February 2nd that it would buy BP Amoco’s share in the project and on February 12th that it would also take Statoil’s stake.
TotalFinaElf had held a 14.3 percent interest in Kashagan, but with the purchase of BP and Statoil’s shares, that percentage would grow to 28.5 percent.
Although the consortium has reportedly put forward Eni as its choice for operator, as of late on February 12th, the government had yet to make an official announcement.
Other partners include Phillips Petroleum Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., BG, Royal Dutch/Shell and Japan’s Inpex, and a senior OKIOC official indicated that further ownership changes could occur in the coming months.
The OKIOC had discovered oil at Kashagan in July 2000 at its first test well in the offshore field and is currently drilling a second test well. The field, which has estimated crude reserves of at least 30 million barrels, could be the largest oil discovery in three decades.
Nazarbayev has boasted that the estimated reserves from Kashagan could well lift his country’s crude output from about 615,000 b/d to 8 million b/d by 2015.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
