Kazakhstan hopes to settle its protracted dispute with the foreign developers of the lucrative Karachaganak gas field in the first half of this year, Oil and Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev told reporters.
Mynbayev, during an online news conference, said talks were under way between the Kazakh government and a consortium led by Britain's BG Group and Italy's ENI. He did not specify the government's demands.
"Each of the sides clearly understands what it wants," he said, adding the next meeting was scheduled for May 10.
"I hope that we will try to reach agreement in the first half of the year," the minister said.
Officials at Karachaganak Petroleum Operating Group (KPO), the consortium that owns the field, were not immediately available for comment.
Kazakhstan, with 3 percent of the world's recoverable oil reserves, has grown more assertive over its abundant natural resources in recent years, pushing to revise agreements signed with foreign energy majors after the Soviet collapse in 1991.
The Kazakh government has on several occasions charged the KPO consortium with violating tax and ecological laws and with overstating costs. KPO has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Kazakhstan's top tax official told Reuters in an interview in February it had prepared new tax claims against KPO relating to tax payments in 2006-09.
ENI and BG each hold a 32.5 percent stake in the consortium. The other participants are U.S. oil major Chevron, with 20 percent, and Russia's LUKOIL, with 15 percent.
Kazakh state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas last year stated its ambition to acquire a stake in the project, and ENI Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni said in August the company was holding talks on cutting its shareholding.
Asked about the state's plans, Mynbayev said: "As of today, there are no official agreements on (acquiring) any share in the project."
Third Phase
The government has previously expressed interest in exerting greater control over costs during the crucial third phase of development at the Karachaganak field in northwest Kazakhstan.
The next, third phase could allow for a doubling of production. Mynbayev said the consortium had estimated the cost of the third phase of the project at $23 billion, although no formal proposal had been presented.
The government is likely to disagree with this estimate. KazMunaiGas has previously estimated the cost at $14.5 billion.
"As of today, no third phase has been officially presented," Mynbayev said. "Once it has been presented, the Republic of Kazakhstan will consider this concept."
He added: "The sides are waiting for a final settlement of their mutual claims, and once the talks on settling old claims have been finished, I think the consortium will, within a brief period, formulate its proposals on the third stage."
KPO, due to operate the project until 2038, said hydrocarbon output at Karachaganak fell to 133.7 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2010 from 139.4 million barrels in 2009.
