ATYRAU, Kazakhstan (TCA) — Official presentation of Kazakhstan’s huge offshore Kashagan oil field took place on December 7 in Atyrau with the participation of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said.
According to the ministry, commercial oil production at Kashagan started on 1 November 2016, at more than 75 thousand barrels per day. Work is underway to increase production up to 180 thousand barrels per day.
Until the end of the year Kashagan plans to produce up to one million tons of oil and 680 million cubic meters of natural gas. In 2017, production is planned at 8.9 million tons of oil and 5.6 billion cubic meters of gas, with further increase in production up to 13 million tons of oil and 9 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
At a meeting with heads of Kazakh and foreign oil and gas companies in Atyrau on December 7, President Nazarbayev said that the North-Caspian project which is developing the Kashagan field is a good example of effective international cooperation and open partnership, his press service reported.
“Kashagan has united with a common goal Kazakhstan and the world’s largest oil companies. Eni, Total, ExxonMobil, Shell, China National Petroleum Corporation, and Inpex have brought to Kazakhstan their rich experience and expertise,” Nazarbayev said.
The frequently delayed Kashagan project suspended work in September 2013, weeks after production finally kicked off, when the two 90-kilometer pipelines linking the Caspian offshore site to Kazakhstan’s mainland started leaking.
Oil production at Kashagan was resumed on September 28 and the first batch of export oil was piped on October 14, 2016.
Kashagan’s oil reserves are estimated at 38 billion barrels including around 10 billion barrels of recoverable reserves.
But the project is a decade behind schedule and the estimated cost of the project has shot up from $50 billion originally to $135 billion.
The North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), the international consortium running the Kashagan project, includes Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company Kazmunaygas, Eni, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Inpex, and CNPC.
