Kazakhstan said Sunday it was close to an agreement with Western oil firms on substantially increasing its involvement in the massive Kashagan oilfield after a months-long dispute.
"All members of the consortium except for one have agreed on the principle that a part of their interests in the project needed to be transferred so that KMG's (Kazmunaigas) stake is at the same level as the main shareholders," state oil company Kazmunaigas said in a statement.
Talks on a new deal are due to conclude by December 20, it said. A deadline to solve the dispute had expired on Friday.
Kashagan is thought to contain 13 billion barrels of oil and is the largest oilfield to be discovered anywhere since the 1960s. It is set to propel the Central Asian former Soviet state into the big league among oil nations.
When the field was discovered a consortium led by Italy's Eni and including US oil firm ExxonMobil, France's Total and Anglo-Dutch Shell signed a deal to begin extracting the oil.
Eni, Total, ExxonMobil and Shell currently each hold an 18.52 percent stake in the project. ConocoPhillips, also of the US, owns 9.26 percent while Japan's Inpex holds 8.33 percent - as does Kazmunaigas.
But following repeated delays in extracting the oil from the field under the Caspian Sea and after the budget rose sharply, Kazakhstan demanded compensation as well as a greater share in the project and a sharp increase in its share of future profits.
"There was a time when Kazakhstan needed investment and therefore accorded numerous deductions and favours to foreign investors," Kanat Saudabayev, secretary of state, said on Saturday.
"But today we ourselves are major investors ... and it is time that there was parity between our interests and those of our foreign partners," he said. The Kazakh parliament recently passed a law alul agreements made with foreign companies regarding natural resources if they do not respect the country's economic interests.
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