哈萨克斯坦油气勘探开发矿权区补充勘探问题探析

The supplementary exploration of oil and gas E&D in Kazakhstan

哈萨克斯坦现行《矿产资源及矿产资源利用法》(新资源法)规定油气勘探开发利用合同只有勘探开发联合合同和开发合同两种。尽管新资源法生效后,哈国取消了对勘探矿权深度的限制,但是由于绝大多数合同是在新资源法生效前签署的,对勘探矿权的深度有限制。随着哈萨克斯坦油气勘探开发程度不断加大,在部分已签署勘探开发合同的矿权区的矿权深度外发现的新层系或新目标具有补充勘探潜力。受哈国油气勘探开发合同条款限制,矿产资源使用者直接开展补充勘探存在法律层面障碍,必须先获得油气勘探矿权后才能进行补充勘探。对于油气勘探区,需要签署扩充合同区勘探开发合同补充协议,将矿权之外深度变更到现有矿权深度内;对于油气开发区,新的勘探矿权只能通过竞拍方式授予。

According to Kazakhstan’s New Mineral Resources Law, there are only two types of oil and gas exploration and exploitation contracts, namely joint exploration and exploitation contracts and exploitation contracts. Although after the new resource law came into effect, the limit on the depth of prospecting rights was lifted but the vast majority of contracts were signed before the new resource law came into effect, which limited the depth of prospecting rights. With the increasing level of oil and gas exploration and development in Kazakhstan, new strata or new targets discovered outside the depth of mineral rights in some of the mineral rights areas where exploration and development contracts have been signed have complementary exploration potential. Limited by the terms of the Kazakhstan oil and gas exploration and development contract, there are legal obstacles for users of mineral resources to directly carry out supplementary exploration and they must obtain mineral rights to oil and gas exploration before performing supplementary exploration. For oil and gas exploration areas, it is necessary to sign a supplementary agreement for the exploration and development contract of the expansion contract area to change the depth beyond the mineral rights to the depth of the existing mineral rights. For the oil and gas development area, new exploration rights can only be granted by auction.