The U.S. Texaco International Petroleum Company announced on September 23 that it had acquired a 65% stake in the development of the oil deposit Severny Buzachi (Western Kazakhstan) from the Saudi Arabian company Nimir Petroleum. The latter still retains the remaining 35% of the project. The deposit is located 120 miles north of the Kazakhstani Caspian port of Aktau and holds 1bn to 1.5bn barrels of oil. This is the first project in Central Asia where Texaco is acting as the sole operator. The company is planning to begin exploration works at the deposit by the end of the year in order to start production in the next two to four years. (Interfax)

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ENI-Agip, which is developing the Karachaganak oil and gas deposit in Western Kazakhstan (along with Texaco, British Gas, and LUKoil), has suggested that gas condensate from the deposit may be transported via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. According to the president of the national oil company KazakhOil, Nurlan Kapparov, the issue was discussed during negotiations between President Nazarbaev and the head of ENI-Agip, G. Moskato. Mr. Kapparov said that the gas condensate output at the Karachaganak deposit would reach a maximum of 12 million tonnes by the year 2005. Part of the output is expected to be supplied to the Orenburg processing plant (Russia), and up to 500 tonnes will hopefully be processed at a local plant, pending a feasibility study that is to be completed next year. (Interfax)