Resource-rich Kazakhstan will this year retake control of all natural resources where investors are found in breach of their obligations, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov said Thursday.
Speaking to President Nursultan Nazarbayev at a Cabinet meeting, Masimov said "your order to return to the state deposits of natural resource developers who have acted in bad faith will be implemented this year."
The comment came after Masimov last week said he would be reviewing all contracts in the natural resource sector and annulling all those where the investor was found to have committed violations, be they foreign or local.
Masimov also repeated that no new contracts would be awarded prior to adoption of a major fiscal reform this autumn aimed at "determining the rules of the game very clearly."
The government of this hugely resource-rich Central Asian state has signaled a tougher line towards investors.
Last year a law was passed allowing the state to alter or annul any contract in the natural resource sector in the event that the state's economic or security interests are threatened.
Major wrangling took place recently with the Western consortium developing the vast Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea as the project has slipped well behind schedule. That row was resolved with the Kazakh state being given a greater stake in the consortium.