Total announced that it inked an agreement to acquire a 50% interest in Kazakhstan’s concession held by Oil Techno Group (OTG), the Kazakh subsidiary of Poland’s Petrolinvest. The roughly 5,500 sq km onshore license presently being explored is located in northwestern Kazakhstan.

Total, as the operator of the permit, will proceed a work program that includes reprocessing of seismic data and drilling of a well, as there’s a well has already been drilled on the license with encouraging results.

The company has been present in Kazakhstan since 1992; Total’s stake is 16.8% in the North Caspian permit, which includes the giant Kashagan field operated by the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC). Kashagan is planned to enter into production at the end of 2012.

It’s worth mentioning that Total said it will bring both operational excellence and environmental performance together in the operatorship of the concession held by OTG, according to the company’s HSE policy.