Kazakhstan won't buy BG Karachaganak oil stake after Shell deal
ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Kazakhstan's government has concluded it has no preemptive right to buy BG Group Plc's stake in the Karachaganak oil and gas field because of the company's takeover by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Bloomberg reports.
The government studied the issue and concluded preemption would not occur because the main activity of BG and Shell is not linked to resource use in the country, the Energy Ministry said by e-mail Monday.
Kazakhstan said in September it was studying whether it had the right to buy the stake in Karachaganak, the country's second-largest oil-producing venture, following the change in ownership. Shell acquired BG Group on Feb. 15 in the biggest oil-industry acquisition in a decade.
In 2013, the Kazakh government exercised its right to step in and purchase an 8.4 percent stake in Kashagan, the country's biggest oilfield, stopping India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp.'s $5 billion bid. At the same time, the government also sold an 8.33 percent stake in the project to CNPC.
The Karachaganak field has gross reserves of more than 2.4 billion barrels of condensate and 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to BG's website. It accounts for 45 percent of the country's total gas output and 16 percent of liquids.