Kashagan to be operated by 4 company group -source

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The new operator of the huge Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan will be a four-member joint operating company consisting of Eni (ENI.MI), Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Total (TOTF.PA), according to a source familiar with the talks.

Italy's Eni was stripped of its leading role in the project as part of a deal in which Kazakhstan also doubled its stake in the field, which has been plagued by cost overrunsand delays.

Under the new deal Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas, Eni, Exxon,Shell and Total will all own about 16.81 percent of the project, with ConocoPhillips (COP.N) and Japan's Inpex Holdings Inc. (1605.T) taking smaller stakes. (Reporting by Michael Erman, editing by Richard Chang)