Kazakhstan’s Ministry of ​Justice has suspended enforcement proceedings to ‌recover 2.3 trillion tenge ($5.06 billion) from the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) which runs the Kashagan oil field, ​Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

NCOC, a joint ​venture between Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab, TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), opens new tab, ExxonMobil (XOM.N), opens new tab and China’s ⁠CNPC, among others, runs Kazakhstan’s offshore Kashagan ​field. It did not immediately reply to a ​request for comment.

NCOC has been mired in a lengthy legal standoff with the Kazakh government, which accuses it ​of environmental violations related to sulphur storage, ​and has ordered NCOC to pay a large fine. NCOC ‌and ⁠its contractors reject the fine and the allegations behind it, and the case is currently being heard in international arbitration.

In July, Reuters reported ​that Kazakhstan ​had warned ⁠NCOC’s head that he faced criminal prosecution if the fine was ​not paid.

Kazakhstan produces around 2% of global ​daily ⁠oil supply. Critics and some international oil majors have accused Kazakhstan of seeking to increase ⁠its ​control over its oil industry ​via “resource nationalism”, an accusation Astana rejects.