Azernews.Az

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Oil and Gas does not have official data on U.S. ExxonMobil's desire to leave Kashagan project, Kazakh deputy minister of oil and gas Lazzat Kiinov told reporters on Wednesday at the 20th Congress of the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.

"I have no information on ExxonMobil's intention to withdraw from the Kashagan project ... We have not received an official letter from the company," Kiinov said.

Earlier, some media reports urged ExxonMobil was planning to sell its stake in the project on the Kashagan oil field exploration.

Kashagan is Kazakhstan's giant oil and gas field located in the north of the Caspian Sea. Geological reserves at Kashagan are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil, according to the Kazakh geologists.

In the second half of 2010, the head of KazMunaiGas NC JSC Kairgeldy Kabyldin said that the period of the second phase of Kashagan development may be transferred to 2018-2019, which, in turn, will affect the start of the realization of the Caspian oil transportation system project. The postponement of the second phase is associated with high costs, which may be incurred by the consortium participants, the Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Minbayev said earlier.

The largest participants of the Kashagan project are currently the companies Eni, KMG Kashagan B.V., Total, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell. Other participants are ConocoPhillips and Inpex.

Up to 50 million tons of oil a year will be extracted in the first stage of field development.

The expected oil reserves of the Kashagan field reach no less than 10 billion tons and gas reserves - more than 1 trillion cubic meters.