Kazakhstan has approved the $4.2 billion takeover of oil producer and refiner PetroKazakhstan by China\'s state-owned oil firm CNPC, CNPC President Chen Geng said on Thursday. \"The president expressed his support for CNPC\'s takeover of PetroKazakhstan,\" Chen told journalists after meeting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He gave no further detail. Shareholders of PetroKazakhstan, which is listed in Canada but has all its operations and assets in Kazakhstan, approved the deal last month, but it was up to the Kazakh government to give its final approval for the deal to go ahead. Kazakhstan\'s parliament rushed last month to adopt a law allowing the government to block sales of foreign-held stakes in companies developing the nation\'s natural resources, raising concerns that CNPC\'s takeover of PetroKazakhstan could be blocked. PetroKazakhstan produces oil in the southern Kyzyl Orda region and owns a refinery at Shymkent which is the most modern of only three such plants in Kazakhstan, but had difficult relations with the Central Asian state\'s government. Senior officials have accused the Calgary-based firm of raking in \"monopoly profits,\" cashing in on high prices for its oil products sold in the south, and of seeking a furtive deal with CNPC behind the government\'s back. Kazakh national oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas signed a memorandum with CNPC last month, agreeing that 33 percent in PetroKazakhstan must be sold to the Kazakh state once the takeover had taken place. Kazakh Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik has said that Kazakhstan aims to ensure control of the Shymkent refinery through a 50-50 joint venture with CNPC. He has said this will allow the government to control fuel prices in the south. (Reuters)