Already between the pointy teeth of the U.S.

And with Russia and China circling about, Kazakhstan wakes up:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 The year 2007 has been a difficult one for Western energy companies operating abroad, as many states, including Bolivia, Russia and Venezuela, have unilaterally either rewritten or abrogated longstanding energy agreements with European and U.S. partners. Is Kazakhstan about to join the revisionist club?

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At stake is Western involvement in developing Kazakhstan's vast hydrocarbon reserves; with proven reserves of 35 billion barrels, Kazakhstan potentially contains the world's third-largest reserves of oil, after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The country is also rich in natural gas reserves, with proven gas reserves of more than 2 trillion cubic meters and projected gas reserves of up to 5 trillion cu m.

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Stripped of its pious rhetoric, the reality is that in Kazakhstan, as in other recent oil-producing nations, the days where an energy consortium signed agreements that guaranteed a tax and royalty regime for the life of the oil or gas field are gone forever, with producing nations demanding a more equitable percentage of the profits, much to the dismay of the oil companies. While cries of anguish have been heard in corporate boardrooms about recent contract revisions from Nigeria to Sakhalin, most oil companies have grudgingly accepted the new terms, as the alternative is to be squeezed out of development projects altogether.

Eni SpA has 60 days to respond to Astana's environmental concerns with a plan to address alleged infractions or possibly lose its concession. Ironically, the northern section of the Kazakh Caspian was a nature reserve until Kazakhstan began exploring the region for hydrocarbons in the early 1990s.

Other posts about Kazakhstan here.

Update: Phila of Bouphonia has more.