Kazakhstan Wants Money From Shell, Among Others, and is Going to Court
Kazakhstan wants more money from a series of big oil companies and has started an international arbitration.
According to the country, the companies, including Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, took too much money from sales before sharing them with the country. It would total 16.5 billion dollars.
The companies operate two oil fields in Kazakhstan. The Karachaganak field is in the country’s west, and the much larger Kashagan field is in the south of the Caspian Sea. According to Kazakhstan, $13 billion has been withheld too much from the latter field, compared to $3.5 billion from the Karachaganak field. Shell is active in both oil fields.
The oil companies have an agreement to share the turnover with Kazakhstan. They may first deduct certain costs from the turnover before it is distributed. But according to the Central Asian country, too much money has been withheld.
