ASTANA: Kazakhstan will tear up contracts signed by Shell, BG and other foreign energy companies to invest more than $150 billion to exploit giant new oil fields in the country, forcing them to pay more tax. Shell has a 16.8 per cent stake in the consortium developing the Kashagan field at an estimated total cost of $136 billion. The country’s energy minister warned yesterday that the companies would no longer be exempt from domestic taxation as agreed and would have to redraft their contracts. Sauat Mynbayev confirmed that this would apply to the developers of the Kashagan field as well as companies including Chevron, which is leading the consortium on the Tengiz field, and BG, which has a stake in the Karachaganak project. Shell and other foreign energy companies had signed production sharing agreements supposedly fixing the tax they pay and profit share they are allowed to take for the lifetime of the project. Analysts said that the companies now faced a “significant” rise in taxes, and would for example be liable for the export duty which two years ago was set at $100 a barrel. Anna Walker, a senior analyst at consultancy Control Risks, said the government had increasingly been ratcheting up the pressure on companies in an effort to raise revenues following the economic downturn. “The wider implication is also that the government could change the terms of the contract in the future whenever it wants,” she added.