Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13 -- Kazakhstan's Energy and Natural Resource Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov said the Kazakh government will decide by Dec. 30 whether to seek oil and natural gas rights in that country now held by Canada's Nations Energy Co.
Commenting on the pending sale of Nations Energy and its Kazakh assets to China's state-owned Citic Group, Izmukhambetov said that "in principle, we have the right to bid for any offer, for any deal, or stake that is being sold."
Izmukhambetov said the Kazakh government has 45 days to reach a decision according to the law on subsurface operations and that the deadline for it to decide on the Citic-Nations deal expires on Dec 30. "By Dec. 30 we should reach a decision," he said.
At the end of October, Nations Energy said Citic would acquire its assets in Kazakhstan in December under an agreement that includes its interests in the Karazhanbas field, where Nations produces 50,000 b/d of oil equivalent and has an estimated 340 million bbl in reserves.
In early December, however, the government of Kazakhstan was reportedly planning to block the Citic-Nations agreement in order to acquire the Karazhanbas development for itself (OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2006).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].