Kazakhstan’s dispute with an Italian-led consortium over delays and cost overruns in developing the Kashagan oilfield can be resolved without rewriting the contract, President Nursultan Nazarbayev told Italy’s visiting prime minister on Monday.

Romano Prodi and Paolo Scaroni, the head of Eni which is 30 per cent owned by the Italian government and is the project operator, both pronounced themselves pleased with the outcome of discussions over the world’s most expensive oil project.