News Roundup - October 3, 2007

Reuters: Kazakhstan Fines Chevron but Softens Kashagan Tone
Kazakhstan slapped a fine of more than half a billion dollars on an oil venture run by Chevron on Wednesday but softened its rhetoric in a parallel row with a separate group of Western oil majors…
CNN Money: Chevron JV Fined 609 Million USD for Environmental Violations in Kazakhstan
The Kazakh government said it has fined the joint venture controlled by Chevron Corp 609 mln usd for environmental violations in the Tengiz oilfield…
CNN Money: Chevron To Challenge Kazakh Environmental Suit
Chevron Corp. said Wednesday that it will challenge an environmental fine, reported to be $609 million, for alleged breaches of environmental regulations in Kazakhstan…
CNN Money: Kazakhstan’s Currency Ratings on Negative Watch Pending Risk Assessment - S&P

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it placed Kazakhstan’s ‘BBB’ and ‘A-3′ sovereign foreign currency ratings and ‘BBB+’ and ‘A-2′ sovereign local currency ratings on negative watch…

CNN Money: Eni SpA Still Has No Sulfur-use Plan For Kazakh Oil Field

Eni SpA and the troubled oil consortium it leads in Kazakhstan has still not submitted a plan to the government for how it will process and make use of vast and deadly quantities of sulfur produced from the country’s giant Kashagan oil field, Kazakhstan’s energy minister Sauat Mynbayev said Wednesday…

CNN Money: Eni Environment Record In Kazakhstan Good - Official

Eni SpA’s top official in Kazakhstan on Wednesday sought to shore up the company’s environmental record in the country, saying the company had taken stringent measures to protect surrounding areas where it’s developing the Central Asian country’s biggest crude oil project…

Reuters: Kazakhstan Softens Rhetoric over Kashagan Oil Delay

Kazakhstan softened its rhetoric on Wednesday in a row over production delays with a group of oil companies led by Italy’s Eni, saying it hoped to resolve environmental concerns at the offshore oilfield…

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: More HIV-Infected Children Found In Southern Kazakhstan

A senior Kazakh health official has reported another rise in the number of children infected in hospital with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS…

Reuters: Kazakh KMG E&P to Pay $930 Million for 50 Percent in CITIC

Kazakh oil firm KazMunaiGas E&P will pay $930 million to buy half of Chinese firm CITIC Group’s Kazakh oil assets, which CITIC purchased last year from Canada’s Nations Energy, the Kazakh firm said on Wednesday…

EnerPub: Caspian Sea: Energy Profile

The Caspian Sea region, including the Sea and the states surrounding it, is important to world energy markets because of its potential to become a major oil and natural gas exporter over the next decade…

Hemscott: Kazakh Government Close to Deal with ENI over Kashagan Oil Field Environmental Issues

The Kazakh government said it is close to a deal with Italian group ENI over environmental issues connected with the Kashagan oil reserves, but the issue of the rise in production costs has not been resolved…

RIA Novosti: Turnover Between Kazakhstan and Russia Grows by 30% to $7.7 Billion
The first half of 2007 saw a 30 % year-on-year turnover increase to $7.7 billion between Kazakhstan and Russia, Kazakhstan Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Kuandyk Bishimbaev said Wednesday…
The Financial Times: Kazakhstani Banks Facing Pressure to Consider Bids in Global Liquidity Crunch, Sources Say; Nurbank and Temirbank Considered Potential Targets
The liquidity crunch in the international bond markets could increase pressure on Kazakhstan-based banks to consider deals with international investors, sources have said…
TREND: Trans-Caspian Pipeline Project Requires Clarity of Gas Resources: Minister
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan, Sauat Minbayev, said on 3 October in Alma-Ata, that in order to realize the Trans-Caspian Pipeline project, a large distinctness of gas resources is required…
Oil and Gas Eurasia: KazMunaiGas Announces Oil Discovery in the “Pearls” Project
At the KIOGE-2007 Uzakbai Karabalin, head of KazMunaiGas, has announced of the new hydrocarbons discovered in the “Pearls” project. One of the big news was the announcement of Uzakbai Karabalin about the hydrocarbons discovered in the course of drilling the first exploration well, Khazar-1, in the “Pearls” project framework…