Kazakhstan Resumes Action to Collect $5.2B Kashagan Field Fine

(Credit: Eni)

Kazakhstan has restarted enforcement action to collect a 2.3 trillion tenge ($5.22 billion) fine from the international consortium operating the Kashagan oilfield, Interfax reported on Wednesday, citing the Ministry of Justice.

The North Caspian Operating Company - a venture including Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and China's CNPC - has long disputed the fine, which Kazakh authorities imposed over alleged sulphur-storage violations, and says it is contesting the penalty by all available means.

NCOC is a joint venture of Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and China's CNPC, among others. It has said it was rejecting the fine and the allegations underlying the fine, contesting them by all available means.

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Justice did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Kashagan, an offshore field in the Caspian Sea, is one of the world's largest oil discoveries in recent decades, with an estimated 13 billion barrels of recoverable reserves.

Kazakhstan accounts for around 2% of daily world oil supply and is engaged in arbitration with international oil majors working on several of its oilfields, which it accuses of various environmental violations and corrupt practices.

(Reuters - Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Louise Heavens)