Deal on purchasing stake in North-Caspian project by Kazakhstan to be completed on May 4 - national company's head

/INTERFAX-KAZAKHSTAN, Aktau, May 3, 05/ - The final - juridical - registration of deal on purchasing stake in North-Caspian project by Kazakhstan is to be completed on May 4. Uzakbay Karabalin president of KazMunayGas the national oil and gas company says. During the press-conference held on Saturday in Aktau he said: "We expect on May 4 we will complete the deal. The sum (for the stake - "IF-K") has been transferred already. Before coming here (to Aktau. - "IF-K") I ordered to make payment - I was informed that our partners had already received the whole sum". He says the sum paid for the stake "is company's own funds". Before KazMunayGas said it had purchased stake of BG in North-Kazakhstan project for $900 m. on behalf of Kazakhstan. "If there are no fails, on this day (May 4. - "IF-K") we will give press- conference. Then I will answer all questions concerning the deal with BG. Now we are constrained by the confidence agreement, and we don't want to break obligations", - Karabalin said. On April 20, Vladimir Shkolnik minister of energy and mineral resources said the deal would be finally legally registered on April 27 of this year, and after that there will be organized "press-conference on this matter". However this did not happen. British company has earned about $1.8 bn. after selling the stake. In accordance with the terms of the deal, shareholding of BG has been estimated at $1.23 bn., $570 m. more have been paid to company as compensation for investments into the project. The deal on selling BG's stake comprises two stages including purchasing the whole stake of BG Group Plc. (16.67%) first by contracting companies - participants of the international consortium Agip KCO, and then - resale a half of the stake purchased by them (8.33%) to KazMunayGas on the same terms. BG in the beginning of April completed the deal on selling its stake in Agip KCO, which develops fields in North Caspian region, the biggest of which is Kashagan. According to results of the deal participants of Agip KCO are: ENI (single operator of North-Caspian project), Total, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell now have 18.52% stake each, ConocoPhillips - 9.26%, Inpex and KazMunayGas - 8.33% each. Agip KCO intends to start industrial extraction within the frameworks of North-Caspian project in 2007-2008. According to Agip KCO, extracted oil reserves of Kashagan are estimated at least at 7-9 bn. barrels, and its total geological oil reserves - at 38 bn. barrels. [2005-05-03]