BG concludes deal on sales of its 16.67% share in Kashagan

/Kazakhstan today, March 31, 05/ - BG Group Plc. is going to conclude a deal on the sales of its 16.67% share in Kashagan field development on the Caspian shelf before 6 April, 2005, belonging to it, KZ-today has learnt from an official press release circulated by BG Group Plc. The press release observes that BG is going to earn around $1.8 billion from the sales of its share to its project partners - ENI, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total и ConocoPhillips. According to a source in BG, yesterday, March 30, an agreement on purchase of 50% BG share, i.e. 8.33% by Kazakhstan was inked in Astana. The price of the share holding, according to the source, was $630 million. The remaining 8.33% of BG shares will be equally distributed among Agip KCO shareholders. The consortium Agip KCO (the operator of Kashagan development project) includes BG Group, Exxon Mobil, Inpex Masela Ltd., Phillips, Shell, and Total. Earlier it was reported that BG had announced its intention to sell its share (16.67%) in Kashagan project to all the project participants in equal parts. The first oil at Kashagan field was discovered in a well "Vostok-1" on summer 2000. The proven field reserves approximate 1.5 billion tons. The consortium plans to commence the commercial production on Kashagan in 2007-2008. [2005-03-31]