|
Kazakhstan warns of "collision" over PetroKaz sale
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-13 11:21
Oil-rich Kazakhstan moved nearer blocking Chinese CNPC's $4.18 billion
takeover of PetroKazakhstan on Wednesday and warned shareholders in the
Canadian-listed firm against approving the deal.
"If our law has been adopted there's going to be a legal collision and we
will be able to say 'sorry guys you have concluded your deal without our
consent'," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Vladimir Shkolnik told
deputies.
He was addressing parliament's lower house shortly after the upper chamber,
the Senate, passed a complex bill that aims to give Kazakhstan the right to
intervene in the sale of foreign-held stakes in oil firms. It also seeks to
limit property rights over "strategic resources" like oil and gas.
The bill, which only needs President Nursultan Nazarbayev's signature to come
into law, could derail CNPC's bid for PetroKazakhstan, a Canadian-listed firm
with almost its entire operations in the former Soviet state of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is furious that PetroKazhakstan and advisers Goldman Sachs failed
to consult it about the deal.
"They started work on this deal in London and New York without asking for the
consent of Kazakhstan's government," Shkolnik said. "Here's the result of our
ministry's work, this bill, which you have debated."
"By any ethical standards they (PetroKazakhstan) should have addressed the
government of Kazakhstan and said 'we want to do this -- what's your attitude?'"
Shkolnik said he had expressed his dismay to the Canadian ambassador.
PetroKazakhstan shareholders are due to decide on CNPC's takeover bid on
October 18. A spokesman for CNPC said he had no comment.
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
Kazakhstan, the world's ninth largest country, has doubled oil production to
1.2 million barrels per day since the Soviet Union collapsed, putting it in the
world's top 20 oil producers.
Following a trend in neighbouring Russia, it has sought to bring its oil and
gas resources under greater state control and set tougher terms for foreign oil
companies.
Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bakhtykozha Izmukhambetov told
senators before the vote the draft law was not meant to scare away investors.
"These new restrictions do not mean a worsening of the republic's investment
climate," he said, repeating earlier official pledges that foreign-held oil
stakes would be bought out at the market price.
The CNPC bid was unveiled on August 23 and the government at first said
little. Last week it revealed it wanted "strategic control" over at least some
PetroKaz assets. Shkolnik said on Wednesday Kazakhstan wanted to take back
control of the Shymkent oil refinery, known as ShNOS, from PetroKazakhstan.
"I believe that in any case Kazakhstan should have a part of any
strategically important project and influence all the decisions taken with
regard to these oilfields, and also to ShNOS," he said. "I'll struggle for that
as long as I can."
PetroKazakhstan has maintained that the sale of its shares on overseas stock
exchanges should not be subject to Kazakh government review.
Shkolnik said the company had acted wrongly and also criticised adviser
Goldman Sachs.
"They hired Goldman Sachs, a well-known company, which started this process
and invited two companies to bid -- a Chinese and an Indian one," he said.
"But it did not invite others and it did not inform us about it. We learnt
about it through third parties."
Senior CNPC officials have said previously that strong Sino-Kazakh ties are
likely to ensure that the Chinese state oil firm wins in its bid for
PetroKazakhstan. China is helping to build a pipeline linking existing lines
that serve PetroKazakhstan's Kumkol fields to the Kazakh-Chinese border.
Further darkening the outlook for the PetroKazakhstan sale is opposition by
Russian oil major LUKOIL which is planning to fight CNPC's takeover bid in court
as part of its attempts to gain full ownership of a joint venture with PetroKaz,
Turgai Petroleum.
|
