RI oil firm enters Kazakhstan

RI oil firm enters Kazakhstan

TOKYO (Dow Jones): Three Japanese companies will drill for oil
in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Kazakhstan with financial
assistance from Japan National Oil Corp., company officials said
in the Tuesday edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The companies -- Indonesia Petroleum Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. and
Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. -- have obtained a joint 7.14
percent stake in a drilling concession held by Kazakh Oil. The
project is expected to cost about 48 billion yen, including the
price of the stake. Royal Dutch/Shell group, Mobil Corp. of the
U.S., Total of France and Agip SpA of Italy are all developing
oil fields in the same area.

The three Japanese concerns will conduct their operation
through a joint subsidiary in which Indonesia Oil owns a 45
percent stake and Japan Petroleum and Mitsubishi Corp. each own
2.5 percent.

Japan National Oil owns the remaining 50 percent of the shares
in the unit, which will test-drill six wells between 1998 and
2003 prior to commercial production.