A consortium of foreign companies led by ENI SPA has announced plans to boost its investments in the Kazakhstan's Kashagan deposit to $10 billion.

Thanks to these investments, the group of companies, which also includes EXXON MOBILE CORP., ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL GROUP, TOTAL SA, CONOCO PHILLIPS and the Japanese INPEX, now aims to quadruple its oil production under the project's first phase to 450,000 bpd.

The new financing scheme delays the production of the first oil to late 2006, but the Kazakh government will be compensated for lost profits.

In the long run, oil production at the deposit is to be brought up to 1.2 million bpd.

(NewsBase 08.ix.03)