The Kazakh government announced Monday that it was suspending operations at its Kashaganoilfield for three months because Eni, the leader of a group of oil companies including ExxonMobil, Total, Royal Dutch Shell and CononoPhillips, which have stakes in the offshore project, had violated environmental regulations.
The Tengiz problem is a mere puddle next to the troubles at Kashagan in the remote North Caspian Sea, the world's largest oilfield discovery in the last three decades.