Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot has obtained a promise from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev that Shell will be given a large oil concession, the Trouw newspaper reported Friday.

The deal was under heavy pressure from the Americans who also wanted the concession. But Bot was one step ahead of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who will be in the Kazakh capital Astana on Friday to discuss the matter, said the paper.

Shell is going to cooperate with Kazakh oil company Kazmuniagas in the Nursultan field. Bot did not want to say how big the concession is after his talks with the Kazakh president. But the deal is in accordance with Shell's wishes, he said.

If the promise to Bot is actually carried out, it will be a great relief for the multinational energy giant. Shell has invested substantially in the Asian country for the last four years.

In return for the concession, the Netherlands has promised to support Kazakhstan in its ambition to become president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and to become a member of the World Trade Organization, said the paper.

Source: Xinhua