Oil majors operating Kazakhstan's Kashagan and Karachaganak oil fields are being taken to arbitration by the country over allegations including unapproved spending, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shell, Exxon, state-run KazMunayGas National Co, Eni SpA and TotalEnergies are the main partners who have invested more than $50 billion in the Kashagan project, one of the world's largest oil fields.
The Karachaganak partners, led by Shell and Eni, have invested at least $27 billion, the report said.
Neither Shell nor the two consortiums’ offices in Kazakhstan immediately replied to requests to comment. The Kazakh energy ministry also did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Kazakhstan has claimed that the partners should not deduct costs amounting to $13 billion for Kashagan and $3.5 billion for Karachaganak from the profit it splits with the government, the report said.
The claim covers the period from 2010 to 2018 for Kashagan, and 2010 to 2019 for Karachaganak, it added.
Allegations also included violation of tender procedures, Bloomberg said.
(Reuters - Reporting by Shadia Nasralla, Olzhas Auyezov and Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey)