RusEnergy

22.03.2006 10:06 [Neftegaz.ru] - Kazakhstan has postponed its plans to call tenders for new offshore oil blocks there, said Kazakhstan's Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov. It could happen because of severe criticism of 2005 tenders voiced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev. In Kazakhstan, today’s highlight is speeding up crude production at existing projects, primarily at Kashagan field, Kommersant reported. Kazakhstan, which holds the largest oil reserves in the Caspian Sea, has apparently decided to boost crude production for the account of today’s projects instead of calling tenders and selling licenses for new offshore blocks of the Caspian Sea. In this undertaking, the biggest hope is the $30-billion Kashagan field. Anyway, Kazakhstan doesn’t intend to sell licenses for new Caspian deposits in 2006 and the moratorium could be prolonged further on.