RusEnergy

17 April 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Kazakhstan's government announced an audit of all energy and mineral resources contracts today, but said it had no intention of seeking unilaterally to revise any existing deals. "Our subsoil policies should be aimed at diversifying the economy so I am ordering the energy ministry to conduct an audit of all contracts in the subsoil sector to see whether or not they solve the tasks we have set ourselves," Reuters quoted Prime Minister Karim Masimov as telling a government meeting. He gave no details but the government has been seeking both to diversify the economy and to process raw materials inside the country where possible in order to maximise the economic benefit it gets from exports. "This means that we will again analyse whether contract conditions in the subsoil sector are being met," Energy Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told Reuters. "We will in future pay attention to the necessity... of expanding and building refining and enriching factories and plants," he said. "There is no question of revising the contracts. Any change to a contract would have to be agreed by both sides."