Top Gazprom managers said on Friday they planned to set up a joint venture with Kazakhstan by the end of this year to process gas from the Central Asian state\'s mammoth Karachaganak field in Russia. Earlier this year the Kazakh government gave up plans of building its own processing plant at the field and accepted Gazprom\'s offer to process gas in nearby Orenburg across the Russian border. \"We talked about the Orenburg gas processing plant where a joint venture will be set up,\" Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller told reporters after meeting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. \"A long-term contract on Karachaganak gas deliveries is in the works.\" Gazprom\'s Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ryazanov said the contract with Karachaganak operators could be signed this year. \"We would like to put this issue on the Gazprom board\'s agenda already in November,\" he said. The Orenburg project is estimated at $300 million, and Ryazanov said annual Karachaganak deliveries to the plant could amount to 15 billion cubic metres. Karachaganak is operated by British energy company BG which holds 32.5 percent in the project. Italy\'s ENI holds the same stake, while ChevronTexaco and Russia\'s LUKOIL own 20 and 15 percent respectively. (Reuters)