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NEW YORK, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will sign at least two multi-billion dollar oil deals at a State Departement ceremony on Tuesday afternoon, U.S. government and oil company officials said Monday.
The signing ceremony will include the production-sharing deal for the giant Karachaganak field, one of the world's largest gas condensate fields, in which Texaco Inc <TX.N> is a partner, as well as an offshore oil development project in the Caspian Sea, where Mobil Corp <MOB.N> has a major share.
The Kazakh president will cap two days of Washington meetings with the ceremony Tuesday afternoon, signing more than a dozen political and economic deals, a State Department official said.
The Karachaganak deal, a project which may include a refinery and pipeline east to China, is expected to cost around $10 billion over 40 years. It will give Texaco a 20 percent stake, Italy's Agip SpA and British Gas 32.5 percent each and Russia's Lukoil 15 percent, according to previous comments from Kazakh officials.
Karachaganak is located near Kazakhstan's northwestern border with Russia and holds an estimated 18 trillion cubic meters of gas and two billion barrels of crude oil. Producing only a small amount currently, the success of the long-delayed project depends on securing export routes, particularly to the hard-currency European markets, analysts have said.
The offshore Caspian oil deal expected to be signed is that which has been negotiated by the North Caspian Project Team, a group comprising Total <TOTF.PA>, Royal Dutch/Shell Group <RD.AS><SHEL.L>, an alliance between British Petroleum <BP.L> and Statoil <STAT.CN>, British Gas <BG.L>, Agip <AGIS.N> and Mobil Corp <MOB.N>.
The group already has spent $300 million seismically testing the area and preparing for drilling next year. The potential recoverable reserves are not yet known but Kazakh officials have compared them with the giant onshore Tengiz project, with potential reserves of nine billion barrels and upwards.
Tony McAuley, New York Energy Desk, +1 212 859 1623 REUTERS
13:42 11-17-97 |
