The statement did not specify the amount of gas reserves the field is believed to contain.
The deal was reached after talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.
It comes two months after Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, agreed to boost energy cooperation in a meeting in Kyiv.
(AP)
Central Asia Gas Pipelines
Click on the map for an enlarged image.
Russia's rising appetite for Central Asian gas is a direct result of the shifting fortunes of Gazprom, the state-run Russian company that controls lucrative exports. The company's total gas production has flatlined at around 550 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year. With major fields yielding less as they age, Gazprom has chosen to maintain its all-important gas balance by purchasing gas on the side -- from independent producers in Russia and from Russia's Central Asian neighbors -- instead of investing in the lengthy and costly development of untapped Arctic fields...(more)
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