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ASTANA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's government andenergy companies developing the Karachaganak gas condensatefield are still in talks about the Central Asian nation'sfinancial claim against the consortium, Kazakhstan's deputyenergy minister said on Wednesday.
"The ball is in their court, we have sent them somequestions and are awaiting answers," Magzum Mirzagaliev toldreporters, adding the negotiations were "constructive" anddeclining to disclose the exact sum of the claim.
"I have no timeline (for the dispute's resolution)," hesaid.
Russia's Lukoil said in April Kazakhstan had fileda $1.6 billion claim against the Karachaganak consortium led byBG Group and Eni.
The energy ministry, meanwhile, has said the dispute wasabout calculations of the parties' shares in the field's output.
Eni and BG, recently acquired by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, each own 29.25 percent of the Karachaganak project innorthwest Kazakhstan, which they jointly operate. State-ownedKazMunayGaz owns 10 percent, Chevron Corp 18 percent andLukoil 13.5 percent.
Karachaganak produced 78.8 million barrels of liquidhydrocarbons in the first half of 2016, up 11.3 percent from thesame period a year earlier.
The field contains 1.2 billion tonnes of oil and gascondensate and more than 1.35 trillion cubic metres of gas,making it one of the world's largest oil and gas deposits. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov;Editing by Katya Golubkova and Mark Potter)
