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Moscow: KazMunaiGaz National Co., Kazakhstan's state energy company, formed a joint venture with ConocoPhillips and Mubadala Development Co. to explore the country's Nursultan oil field in the Caspian Sea.
Houston-based Conoco and Mubadala, owned by Abu Dhabi, will share 49 per cent of the venture, leaving KazMunaiGaz a majority stake, the Astana-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
"Cooperation with these companies would allow for the attraction of new technologies relating to the exploration and production of oil and gas on the Caspian shelf," KazMunaiGaz President Kairgeldy Kabyldin said in the statement.
KazMunaiGaz is drilling two exploration wells at the Nursultan and Rakushechnoye More oil fields in the so-called "N' block of the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan, the biggest crude producer in central Asia and holder of about 3.3 per cent of the world's oil, is seeking to use foreign expertise to develop its resources while maintaining majority control.
The country plans to double crude output by 2015 by developing the Caspian fields. It agreed to explore in the Myortvy Kultuk area of the sea with Kazakh partners in July, and already has joint ventures with Italy's ENI and Chevron Corp.'s Tengiz-Chevroil LLP. The government is seeking, through KazMunaiGaz, an agreement on royalties and taxation for the Kashagan field, its big-gest in the Caspian.
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