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ASTANA, April 7 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan and global oil majorsdeveloping the Karachaganak gas condensate field aim to"peacefully resolve" their dispute over a production sharingagreement, Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said on Thursday.
Russia's Lukoil, one of the oil majors, said thisweek Kazakhstan had filed a $1.6 billion claim against theconsortium led by BG Group and Eni.
The ministry did not comment on the size of the claim in itsstatement but said the dispute was related to calculations ofthe parties' shares in the field's output and had been discussedin several meetings.
"There is an understanding today that the sides aredetermined to find a concerted solution and peacefully resolvethe issue," it said.
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 18percent and Lukoil 13.5 percent.
The Kazakh government said this year the consortium wouldstart an expansion project in 2017 that would cost $12 billion.In 2015, the field produced 141.7 million barrels of oilequivalent in the form of gas and liquids. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov;Editing by Katya Golubkova and Mark Potter)
