China eyes ConocoPhillips stake in Kashagan: Kazakh minister

China has shown interest in buying the stake of U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips in a multinational consortium developing Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan oilfield, Kazakh Oil & Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev said on Tuesday.

"Kazakhstan has not yet taken such a decision, but there is such a possibility," Mynbayev told reporters. He declined to say what company or government body represented China in talks with Kazakhstan over Kashagan.

Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest oil producer and the second-largest post-Soviet producer after Russia, has the pre-emptive right to buy out the 8.4-percent stake owned by ConocoPhillips in Kashagan.

(Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Maya Dyakina)