News Roundup

News Roundup - January 15, 2008

By SRI ⋅ January 15, 2008 ⋅

Financial Times: Eni loses grip of Kazakh oilfield

Eni, the Italian oil company, is to lose operating control of the giant Kashagan oilfield, the crown jewel of its upstream portfolio, as Kazakhstan asserts greater control over the troubled oil development…

Reuters: Eni loses Kashagan lead role, Kazakhstan ups stake

Kazakhstan said on Monday it will double its stake in the giant Kashagan oilfield, paying $1.78 billion and stripping Italy’s Eni of its leading role in the project, which will be further delayed to the end of 2011…

Forbes: Big Oil beaten in Kazakhstan

Heavy handed negotiation tactics and months of protracted discussions have landed Kazakhstan with double its previous stake in the lucrative Kashagan oil fields, at the expense of the world’s leading oil companies…

Bloomberg: Eni-led group cedes Kashagan oil stake to Kazakhstan

Eni SpA and partners in the Kashagan oil field agreed to cede a greater stake in the world’s biggest crude discovery in 30 years to Kazakhstan, giving the government more profit and resolving a dispute over delays and costs…

Reuters: Kashagan further delays oil production start

Kazakhstan’s Kashagan oil field will further delay its production start-up to the end of 2011 from the latest estimate of 2010, Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said on Monday…

Reuters: Eni to share Kashagan lead role in new deal

Italy’s Eni will lose its role as sole operator of the giant Kashagan oil field, sharing it instead with other majors in the group under a new deal reached with Kazakhstan, a source said on Monday…

Reuters: Kashagan to be operated by 4 company group

The new operator of the huge Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan will be a four-member joint operating company consisting of Eni, Exxon Mobil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, according to a source familiar with the talks…

Reuters: Italy’s ENI shares firm after Kashagan deal

Shares in Italian oil major Eni traded slightly higher on Monday after the company agreed a settlement in its dispute with Kazakhstan over the giant Kashagan field…

Financial Times: Kazakhstan oil

It can be hard to pick out the loser when both sides emerge from a dispute wreathed in smiles and claiming victory. But in the resolution to the set-to over the giant Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan, there really is something for everyone…

CNN Money: ExxonMobil ’satisfied’ with agreement on Kashagan project

ExxonMobil Corp. is “satisfied” with the agreement a consortium of private oil giants reached with the the Kazakh government that would the double the Kazakh national oil company’s stake in the massive Kashagan project, an Exxon spokesman said Monday…

The Oil and the Glory: Two hours in Astana

By the look of things, Masimov and the state oil company pushed matters pretty far and seemed so unlikely to budge that, to put it bluntly, the CEOs of both Eni — the field operator — and Total threw up their hands…

Reuters: Kazakhstan copper output falls 5.1 pct in 2007

Kazakhstan’s refined copper output fell 5.1 percent year-on-year to 405,843 tonnes in 2007, the state statistics agency said on Monday…

Forbes: ArcelorMittal CEO vows better safety after Kazakh mine blast

The CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, vowed to improve safety at the firm’s Kazakh coal mines on Monday after visiting the site of an accident in which 30 miners died…

Reuters: Raiffeisen CEO says no talks on Temir Bank

Raiffeisen International (RIBH.VI: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Herbert Stepic told a newspaper he was not in talks to buy Kazakh Temir Bank TEBN.KZ, in which Kazakhstan’s second-largest bank TuranAlem BTAS.KZ holds 55 percent…

Reuters: Kazakh bank Halyk on road show, says not to borrow

Kazakhstan’s number three bank, Halyk, started the London leg of its road show on Monday, but said it was not seeking to raise fresh funds…

Kazinform: Fitch Ratings to hold conference on Kazakhstan in the context of global liquidity crisis

Fitch Ratings is to hold a Conference on Kazakhstan in the context of global liquidity crisis: risks and ways for resistance in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 12 February 2008…

Kazinform: Almaty to host conference on macroeconomic situation in Kazakhstan

Macroeconomic situation in the country will be discussed at the conference titled Kazakhstan in conditions of world liquidity crisis: risks and confrontation methods on February 12 in Almaty, Kazinform reports…

Neweurasia.net: Kazakhstan.Net domain sold

Web-domains with geographical names are always a subject of interest on the Internet market. Average prices for them yield only to the domains of business and porn topics…

SmallCapInvestor.com: Transmeridian Exploration dives on lower oil production

Transmeridian Exploration Inc. are dipping downward after the oil and gas producer reported in a regulatory filing that the amount of crude oil produced during the fourth quarter in its western Kazakhstan field decreased compared to a year earlier…

Eurasianet: A vision for a regional transport network takes shape

Central Asian nations are planning to develop six new major transportation corridors in the next decade, according to a plan developed by the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program…