By Nariman Gizitdinov – Jan 11, 2012 6:00 PM GMT
The Kazakh government is considering a request from Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and other partners to raise the budget for the first phase of the Kashagan oil project by 20 percent to $46 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The international oil companies, which include Eni SpA (ENI) and Total SA (FP), will bear the extra cost themselves, the person said, declining to be identified as the information isnt public. Kazakhstans state energy company, which also has a stake, will reimburse them with barrels of oil for its share once output starts, he said.
Kashagan, once touted as the worlds biggest discovery in four decades, has been plagued by cost overruns and delays over the past decade. An early estimate of $24 billion for the first phase was revised up to $38.6 billion. The venture underestimated the cost of building artificial islands for equipment and to house workers in a region thats frozen almost half the year, while construction expenses also surged.
Shell, Exxon, Eni and Total each hold a 16.8 percent stake in the field, as does state-owned KazMunaiGaz National Co., according to the website of the North Caspian Operating Co., or NCOC, which manages the project. ConocoPhillips holds 8.4 percent and Japans Inpex Corp. (1605) has 7.56 percent.
The costs and schedule of the fields development are currently being considered with the government after a review was carried out, NCOC said in an e-mailed statement.
KazMunaiGaz referred questions to Kazakhstans (OLPDKAZA) Oil and Gas Ministry, which didnt respond to an e-mailed request for comment. Shell declined to comment, as did Eni and Total. Charlie Engelmann, an Exxon spokesman based in Irving, Texas, directed a request for comments to the project’s joint operator.
The Caspian Sea field will produce 370,000 to 450,000 barrels of oil a day in the first phase, which may double in the second phase in 2018 or 2019, Deputy Oil Minister Lyazzat Kiinov said last month.
Production is slated to begin in June 2013 at the latest, Deputy Oil Minister Lyazzat Kiinov said last month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at [email protected]
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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