Thursday, June 14, 2012 -
The Kazakh government will hold a majority stake in all newly-built pipelines, the country’s Senate decreed in a measure passed on Thursday.
The new legislation stipulates that the government must hold no less than 51 percent of shares in new pipelines constructed on Kazakh territory, the Reuters news agency reported Oil and Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev as saying.
“The bill establishes the priority right of the state to take part in any new trunk pipeline being build,” the law states, according to a document published on the Senate’s web site.
Kazakhstan in the past year has become more assertive in demanding its share of oil and gas projects located on its territory, most notably finagling its way into membership of the massive Karachaganak project where state-owned energy firm KazMunaiGas (KMG) now owns a share.
The bill was passed with a pipeline from another project, Kashagan, in mind, the minister added.
“If we talk about the second phase of implementing the Kashagan project...it goes without saying that the Yeskene-Kuryk pipeline would be built already in line with the new law,” Mynbayev said.