ExxonMobil Blocks $5 Billion Kashagan Environmental Fine Settlement
ExxonMobil blocked a proposal for partners in Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field to settle a $5 billion environmental fine, conditioning a field expansion on the dispute's resolution.
ExxonMobil Inc. blocked a proposal for partners in Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field to settle a $5 billion environmental fine with the Kazakh government. The penalty, totaling 2.356 trillion tenge, relates to the handling of sulfur at the site and was upheld by a court in Atyrau on June 19.
ExxonMobil convinced TotalEnergies SE to oppose the settlement, preventing the consensus required for the partners to proceed. The company has since conditioned a potential $80 billion expansion of the field on the resolution of this dispute. The Kashagan field is a joint venture with state-run KazMunayGas National Co. JSC.
While KazMunayGas has decided to pay its share of the fine, the North Caspian Operating Co. continues to contest the penalty through international arbitrations. The joint venture maintains that the sulfur fine has no basis.
