BG says determined to sell Kashagan oilfield stake
05.10.04 11:08
/REUTERS, October 5, 04/ - Britain's BG said on Tuesday it would press
ahead with moves to sell its stake in the giant Kashagan oilfield off
Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea coast, despite a long-running struggle to close
the deal.
"We are committed to selling our equity stake," BG country manager for
Kazakhstan Christine McNamara told Reuters at an oil and gas exhibition in
Almaty.
BG agreed to sell its 16.67 percent stake in Kashagan -- the biggest oil
discovery in decades -- to two Chinese firms in March 2003. That was
scuppered by five of the six consortium members exercising a pre-emptive
right to buy, only for the Kazakh state to say it believed it had first
pickings.
Kazakhstan has pledged to hold on to the stake if it buys it, denying
speculation that it would sell it on at a higher price to China. Energy
Minister Vladimir Shkolnik has said Kazakhstan would pay in the order of $1
billion for the stake.
BG is in talks with the other members of the North Caspian Production
Sharing Agreement -- ENI, Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil, Total
ConocoPhillips, and Japan's Inpex - over the sale.
It is also in negotiations with Kazakhstan and held the last round of talks in
London in July.
[2004-10-05]