News Roundup - August 27, 2007

Reuters: Kazakhstan Halts Kashagan Oilfield, Pressures Eni
Kazakhstan halted work at the huge Kashagan oilfield on Monday and opened a probe into customs violations there, putting further pressure on the project's Western operators led by Eni as it seeks more revenues...
CNN Money: Eni: Kashagan Consortium To Meet Monday With Kazakh Authorities
Eni SpA (E), Italy's biggest oil and natural gas company by volume, said representatives of the consortium set up to develop the Kashagan oil field will meet Kazakhstan's authorities Monday to discuss the key energy project...
RIA Novosti: Kazakhstan Suspends Eni's Operation at Major Oil Field
The government of Kazakhstan has suspended for three months a license held by Italy's Eni to develop the country's largest oil field on the Caspian shelf, the Kazakh environment minister said Monday...
International Herald Tribune: Romanian Gas Company Rompetrol Sells 75 Percent of Shares to Kazakhstan State Company
The Rompetrol Group has sold 75 percent of its shares to Kazakhstan's state-owned energy company, KazMunaiGaz — a move the Romanian oil company's chairman said Monday would increase Europe's alternatives to Russian supplies...
OilOnline: Kazakhstan Signs Deal to Link China with Caspian Sea Oil Fields
Kazakhstan and China have agreed to extend a crude oil pipeline to link mainland China to the Caspian Sea, giving Beijing direct access to Kazakhstan's most lucrative oil reserves...
The Moscow Times: Kashagan Faces Russia-Style Squeeze
Kazakhstan appears to be taking a page from Russia's rulebook on energy nationalism, threatening to withdraw the license of an international consortium led by Italy's Eni as it seeks a larger slice of profits from the giant Kashagan oil field...
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Is Russian Language Dying Out In Former Soviet Republics?
At the official opening of the Year of the Russian Language in Paris earlier this year, a giant banner proclaimed: "Russian Language: The First Language of Communication in Space." ...
The Australian: Close-up: Nursultan Nazarbayev
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev won what The Independent described as a Soviet-style victory after his Nur Otan party picked up almost 90 per cent of the vote and a clean sweep of seats in the Majilis, or lower house of parliament...
Ferghana.ru: Ajdar Kurtov: Expulsion of the opposition: abridged history
Nur Otan's total victory in the snap election of the Majilis (lower house of the parliament of Kazakhstan) on August 18 completed expulsion of the opposition from the national legislature. Ajdar Kurtov, an analyst with Asia Analysis Foundation, believes that the status quo was quite predictable and, to a certain degree, logical...
Kazinform: New Energy Minister of Kazakhstan Appointed
Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov has introduced today new Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan Sauat Mynbayev to the staff...
Forbes: Italcemeni to Build 160 Million EUR Kazakh Cement Plant
Italcementi Group plans to build a 160 mln eur cement plant in southern Kazakhstan with an annual capacity of 1.2 mln tonnes of cement per year, the Kazakh Industry and Trade Ministry's press service said, Interfax reported...
Reuters: Indicators - August 27, 2007
Kazakhstan's economic indicators based on data provided by the State Statistics Agency, government institutions, the central bank and exchanges...