ASTANA -- Kazakh Energy and Natural Resources Minister Sauat Mynbaev has expressed government hopes that a $1 billion business dispute with a British-Italian oil consortium will be resolved before the case goes to international arbitrators, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.
British BG Group has confirmed that it is involved in talks over what is said to be upwards of $1.4 billion in export duties paid in connection with operations at the northwestern Kazakh Karachaganak oil and gas field.
Mynbaev said on September 22 that BG and Eni had already filed suit with an international arbitration court.
The duties were reportedly paid in 2008.