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China

China to buy stake in Kazakhstan's Kashagan oilfield for reported US$5b

Xi agrees deal for 8.33 per cent interest in the giant Kashagan field, at reported cost of US$5 billion, supplanting India's bid for a stake

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) shakes hands with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. Photo: Xinhua
ReutersandSCMP Reporter

President Xi Jinping struck a deal with Kazakhstan yesterday that will give China a stake in its giant Kashagan oilfield.

Under the deal, Kazakhstan's state energy company KazMunaiGas is expected sell an 8.33 per cent stake in the project to state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).

Xinhua reported both sides had agreed on China's purchase of the stake, but did not give further details. Kazakh government sources said it would cost China about US$5 billion.

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The deal will give China additional clout in post-Soviet Central Asia, and blocks an attempt by regional rival India to get a stake in the project, the world's largest oil discovery in five decades.

"The two countries have agreed on China's shareholding in the development of the Kashagan deposit," Xi told a news briefing after talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev . "The two governments hail and support this agreement."

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Oil and gas deals, including one to build an oil refinery in Kazakhstan, were among 22 agreements, worth some US$30 billion, reached during Xi's visit, Nazarbayev said.

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