News Roundup - August 1, 2007

The Economist: Kazakhstan Turns the Screw
The Kazakh government has warned Western investors in the giant Kashagan oil project that delays and massive cost overruns amount to a breach of contract, which demands renegotiation of the deal. Currently, this seems likely to be limited to financial penalties rather than redistribution of equity in favour of the national oil company. However, it underlines the growing assertiveness of the Kazakh authorities in dealing with foreign investors that were welcomed with open arms in the 1990s...
MarketWatch: Kazakhstan Seeks Changes to Major Oil Field Contract
Like many developing countries seeking more revenues from their natural resources, Kazakhstan pushed Monday to change the terms of a contract with foreign companies over the development of the massive Kashagan oil field...
Reuters: Parker Drilling - Kazakh Court Upholds Ruling on Tax Liability
Parker Drilling Co. said the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan upheld a 2006 ruling that the Kazakhstan branch of one of its subsidiaries was liable to pay income taxes related to the import of a drilling barge...
Wall Street Journal: Kazakhstan's Evolving Democracy
In regard to Christopher Walker's "Democratic Deficit" (editorial page, July 7), I would like to express my appreciation to the author for elaborating on Kazakhstan's bid for the 2009 chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the future of the Organization...
Stratfor: When Controlling Means Killing an Oil Project
The Kazakh government is seeking to increase its stake in the Kashagan oil field to 40 percent, according to the government's Web site. If Kazakhstan follows through on its plans, it could very well kill the project on which the country's energy outlook depends...
International Herald Tribune: Thirty Alleged Members of Banned Radical Islamic Group Go on Trial in Kazakhstan
Thirty alleged leaders of a banned Islamic group went on trial Wednesday in a court in central Kazakhstan, authorities said...
NY Daily News: Borat's That! Kazakh Big Sues in Ivy Snub
A Long Island company is being sued because it did not make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan. IvySuccess of Garden City allegedly collected $200,000 from a relative of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev for a course aimed at getting him into an Ivy League school - and then dumped him as a client...
Wall Street Journal: High Oil-Field Costs Crimp Search for New Supplies
Fierce cost escalation in the oil patch is complicating the industry's ability to respond to higher prices with new supplies, setting the stage for still-higher prices in the months and years to come...