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(Bloomberg) — Oil majors operating the giant Kashagan oil field received a pair of favorable arbitration rulings in multibillion-dollar disputes with Kazakhstan’s government over environmental fine and tax claims, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Neither of the rulings settle the ongoing arbitration process, but the decisions put the companies in a slightly stronger position in their broader disputes with the Kazakh government, the people said.

The court of arbitration granted a request by oil majors including Eni SpA, Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and TotalEnergies SE that Kazakhstan should not collect the $5 billion fine, which is related to sulfur storage at the field, until it has considered the matter, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public. The panel didn’t challenge the imposition of the fine, they said.

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In a separate arbitration process, the Kashagan partners were granted a request that Kazakhstan’s tax authorities must not audit the country’s oil-profit share, the people said. The companies argued that commercial arrangements related to the field can only be audited by the counterparty in the contract, which is the Energy Ministry’s representation office, they said.

Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. NCOC, which operates the field, declined to comment. Shell, Eni and TotalEnergies declined to comment. Exxon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Inpex Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp., which also hold minority stakes in Kashagan, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

In the two years since Central Asia’s largest oil producer accused the Kashagan partners of breaching environmental regulations, there have been repeated attempts to settle the issue, which are ongoing, the people said. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s overall claims, including lost revenue and disputed cost deductions at the field, have ballooned to more than $160 billion. 

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In addition to the arbitration process, the Kashagan partners have appealed to Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court, seeking to overturn an earlier appellate court decision that supported the government’s claim that too much sulfur was being stored at the facility, as well as other alleged violations related to water treatment and emissions. The field operator, which has denied any wrongdoing, initially won a challenge to the environmental rulings in a lower court earlier.

The $55 billion Kashagan development in the Caspian Sea was plagued by delays and cost overruns. Kazakh authorities have being pushing for higher revenue from the country’s oil fields and sued the joint venture partners in international arbitration for damages, mostly for lost revenue but also issues related to allegations of environmental violations or corruption.

—With assistance from Francois de Beaupuy, Mitchell Ferman, Alberto Brambilla, Kevin Crowley and Stephen Stapczynski.

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