China may be eager to pay more for the stake of ConocoPhillips in the Kashagan field than India, Richard Jones, deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency, told “Trend” at the energy conference in Atyrau.
According to him, both China and India need to secure stable supply of energy resources and so far China has been more successful than India. He also noted that Kashagan is very attractive for China due to the field's close proximity to the country.
In November 2012, ConocoPhillips signed an agreement to sell its 8.4% stake in Kashagan project to Indian ONGC. However, the Kazakh government has a pre-emptive right to buy the stake. Recently, some rumours emerged that Kazakhstan may be willing to buy the stake in order to re-sell it to China.
The Kazakh government would be also eager to obtain loans in exchange for the stake – a similar scheme was applied during the acquisition of Mangistaumunaigaz by CNPC. Still, the sale of the stake to China would spark criticism from the society which is afraid of Chinese domination over the region.
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