Interfax reported that the Federation Council has ratified a Russian-Kazakh intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a joint venture on the basis of the Orenburg gas processing plant to produce hydrocarbons in Russia's Orenburg region and the Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan.

According to the report, the main condition set in the agreement is the signing of long term no less than 15 years commercial contracts providing for the purchase and processing of gas extracted from the Karachaganak field in the amount of no less than 15 billion cubic meters a year, as well as the sale of the processed gas on the Kazakh market and its exclusive export by Gazprom.

The processing of Karachaganak hydrocarbons proceeded until now based on direct agreements signed by the affiliates of authorized organizations.