Kazakhstan warned international oil companies at the weekend to stop living "in ancient times" as it prepared to tighten the fiscal regime at oilfields and increase state ownership of its flagship Caspian Sea development, the Financial Times reported on its Web site Monday.
Daulet Yergozhin, Kazakhstan's deputy finance minister, said, draft revisions to the tax code, to be debated in parliament early next year, would increase budget revenues, be "simple to administer and collect and very understandable for oil and mineral producers."
There are plans to introduce a new blanket tax covering all oil production to replace existing royalties and rents charged only on oil exports.
Analysts said the tough tax proposals reflected widespread frustration in Kazakhstan about the advantageous contracts secured by foreign oil companies in the 1990s when oil prices were low and the republic was sunk in an economic recession that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Foreign investors would be consulted about the tax amendments, Yergozhin said.
His comments came as Kazakhstan appeared close to asserting greater control over the giant Kashagan field as part of a settlement of a dispute with an oil consortium led by Eni of Italy about surging costs and production delays at the giant Caspian Sea project