RPT-UPDATE 2-Exxon against Kazakh oilfield settlement plan

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By Raushan Nurshayeva

ASTANA Dec 4 (Reuters) - U.S. company Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) is against raising Kazakhstan's stake at the expense of other members of the consortium developing the huge Kashagan oilfield, Kazakh Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said on Tuesday.

Kazakhstan, in a dispute with the Eni-led (ENI.MI) group over cost overruns and production delays at the oilfield, wants participants to hand over parts of their stakes to boost state oil company KazMunaiGas's interest in the oilfield.

KazMunaiGas has said one consortium member opposed this plan and Mynbayev, asked to name the company, replied: "Exxon".

"We will talk to this company and other companies. That is not the final decision," he added.

The U.S. oil company, which has an 18.52 percent stake in Kashagan, could not be reached immediately for comment.

Exxon and ConocoPhilips (COP.N) -- another U.S. company involved in Kashagan -- pulled out of Venezuela rather than give in to demands from Caracas for greater control of oil projects.

KazMunaiGas said on Sunday all other participants had agreed to the proposal. Kazakhstan is also seeking $7 billion from the consortium in compensation for production delays, according to a source close to the talks.

Other Kashagan consortium members are Italy's Eni, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and France's Total (TOTF.PA), which all hold stakes of similar size to Exxon. Smaller stakes belong to ConocoPhilips, with 9.26 percent, and Japan's Inpex (1605.T) with 8.33 percent.

The sides have set Dec. 20 as the final deadline to agree on the future of the world's biggest oil discovery in three decades, whose development costs have escalated to $136 billion from $57 billion.

KazMunaiGas has not said what percentage stake it was aiming at, nor was it clear what mechanism the Kazakh government had in mind for the transfer of the stakes.

"We reckon that it should be raised to the level of big shareholders," Mynbayev said. "We'll see whether that's possible."

Kazakhstan has accused the consortium of a host of violations, including environmental ones, and has blamed its management for allowing costs to spiral as well as for delaying the start of production.

The Caspian Sea field is at the heart Kazakhstan's ambition to triple oil output by 2017. It is now due to start pumping oil in 2010, instead of the original 2005 target.

(Writing by Maria Golovnina, editing by Anthony Barker)