Kashagan further delays oil production start

ASTANA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field will further delay its production start-up to the end of 2011 from the latest estimate of 2010, Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said on Monday.

"We now believe it will happen at the end of 2011 because we have spent around half a year on the dispute," Mynbayev told reporters.

He also confirmed that Italian energy group Eni (ENI.MI) will cease to be the sole operator of Kashagan and will share the operatorship with other members of the project group.

"Strictly speaking the operator will change and there will be a new operating company. Eni will be responsible for conducting the exploration and production phase until it is over. But it will be controlled by the group," he added. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Douglas Busvine)