Kazakhstan says awaiting answers from oil firms in Karachaganak dispute

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ASTANA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's government and energy companies developing the Karachaganak gas condensate field are still in talks about the Central Asian nation's financial claim against the consortium, Kazakhstan's deputy energy minister said on Wednesday.

"The ball is in their court, we have sent them some questions and are awaiting answers," Magzum Mirzagaliev told reporters, adding the negotiations were "constructive" and declining to disclose the exact sum of the claim.

"I have no timeline (for the dispute's resolution)," he said.

Russia's Lukoil (Other OTC: LUKOF - news) said in April Kazakhstan had filed a $1.6 billion claim against the Karachaganak consortium led by BG Group (EUREX: 1007667.EX - news) and Eni (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) .

The energy ministry, meanwhile, has said the dispute was about calculations of the parties' shares in the field's output.

Eni and BG, recently acquired by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LSE: 0LN9.L - news) , each own 29.25 percent of the Karachaganak project in northwest Kazakhstan, which they jointly operate. State-owned KazMunayGaz owns 10 percent, Chevron Corp 18 percent and Lukoil 13.5 percent.

Karachaganak produced 78.8 million barrels of liquid hydrocarbons in the first half of 2016, up 11.3 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The field contains 1.2 billion tonnes of oil and gas condensate and more than 1.35 trillion cubic metres of gas, making it one of the world's largest oil and gas deposits. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Katya Golubkova and Mark Potter)