Kazakhstan said it had agreed with a group of Western oil companies that it would take a stake in the giant Kashagan oilfield, as its Senate approved a law giving the state new rights to buy such stakes.

The government wants to buy all or part of the 16.67 per cent stake in the field that Britain’s BG Plc has agreed to sell to project partners Exxon Mobil Corp, Royal Dutch/Shell, Italy’s Eni, ConocoPhillips and France’s Total.
Some of the companies had opposed this but energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik said all parties had conceded that the state should become involved.
“The Republic and the foreign investors have agreed on the principle of the Republic’s participation as an equity investor under the Kashagan PSA (production-sharing agreement),” the minister said.
The parties have discussed a deal and will meet again in three weeks time, when a final agreement on what proportion of the 16.67 per cent stake the state will get could be decided, Shkolnik said.
Any deal will be on the basis of the $1.23 billion price BG had agreed with its partners.
Exxon, however, maintained its statement earlier that it would be concerned if the Kazakh government insisted on buying the stake since partners in the consortium have preemptive rights to buy it first.
Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, is continuing discussions with the government to fully resolve the matter, a company spokesman said.
Industry sources said ConocoPhilips backed Exxon’s more hardline approach.
The Kazakh Senate voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new law that would automatically give the state the right of first refusal when such stakes are sold. The bill now awaits the signature of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to become law.
Shkolnik denied there was any relationship between the Kashagan talks and the proposed law. However, he added that the law would be retroactive and so, if passed, could be applied to BG’s Kashagan stake if the government chose.
Shell and Total declined to comment on Shkolnik’s announcement, while BG said the principle of state participation was a matter for the other partners.
Consortium members have said there is no existing contractual basis for the state to preempt their purchase of BG’s stake. The government said it had the right under the constitution, which it argues enshrines Kazakh  ownership of the country’s natural resources.