BG, Partners May Agree on Kazakh Expansion, Ceding Stake in 2011

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- BG Group Plc, Eni SpA and their partners in the Karachaganak oil venture expect to reach an agreement on expanding the project with the Kazakh government this year, said Chris Finlayson, BG’s executive vice president and managing director for Europe & Central Asia.

The government has said it will allow the expansion only after entering the venture. KazMunaiGaz National Co., the state energy producer, may acquire a 10 percent stake in Karachaganak, the Central Asian nation’s only major oil development in which the government doesn’t have a stake.

Kazakhstan won’t drop tax claims against the venture during negotiations, Oil and Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev said today at a conference in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Finlayson declined to comment on the stake or the tax claims. He was speaking today with reporters at the conference.

--Editors: Torrey Clark, Alastair Reed

To contact the reporter on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Astana at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net