Kashagan Development:Eni Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

摘要

Being the operator of the super-giant Kashagan field in Kazakhstan is clearly not an easy or restful task.The Italian company Eni finds itself once again the target of criticism over the delays in the development of this extraordinary field and the explosion of the corresponding budget.These criticisms are mostly being leveled by the Kazakh government,but also in a more discreet way by some of Eni's partners in the consortium undertaking the project.The operator is Agip KCO,a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Italian group through Agip Caspian Sea B.V.[Editor's note:AOGM submitted several questions in writing to Eni for the purposes of this article,but had received no reply at the time it went to press.]