Italy's prime minister will visit Kazakhstan soon in an attempt to settle all outstanding issues with the country's government, which has threatened to revoke an oil field license from the Italian oil and gas giant Eni, an Italian newspaper reported Friday.
"I am preparing for this trip very thoroughly. I think we will manage - I hope we will manage - to establish serious dialogue, including at the political level," La Stampa quoted Romano Prodi as saying.
Eni S.p.A. may have its license to Kazakhstan's largest oil field on the Caspian shelf revoked over breaches of environmental regulations, the Kazakh environment minister said Tuesday.
"Operations at Kashagan [oil field] may be suspended. We are currently conducting a probe. There is reason to believe that the operator has failed to comply with environmental laws," Nurlan Iskakov said then.
Prodi said Eni is interested in work on Kashagan, but he said Kashagan is also interested in oil being promptly produced and supplied to world markets. "Therefore, there is a reciprocal interest," he said.
According to some reports, Prodi's visit will take place in early October, but no exact date has been mentioned yet.
Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of work at Kashagan, as well as rising operation costs.
In late July, the project operator suggested that the deadline to begin commercial production be should be shifted from the second half of 2008 to the second half of 2010, with operating costs to be increased from $57 billion to $136 billion.
Kashagan's recoverable reserves were estimated in 2000 at 13 billion barrels of oil.
(Novosti)