Oil output from Kashagan exceeds 2M tons
By Kamila Aliyeva
Over 2 million tons of oil and more than 1 billion cubic meters of gas have been produced at Kazakhstan's Kashagan field, Kazakh national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas, which is one of the shareholders of the project, reported.
Oil production at the Kashagan field was launched in autumn 2016.
The company reported that two gas re-injection compressors will be launched at the field in 2017 in order to increase the level of oil production to 370,000 barrels per day.
Moreover it is planned to implement a project on expansion of gas reinjection at the field which will insure further increase in output. The optimal concept for this project is being selected.
Kashagan, first discovered in 2000 and located in the north of the Caspian Sea, is considered to be the world's largest discovery in the last 30 years, combined with the Tengiz Field.
Kashagan field, which earned the unfortunate nickname “cash-all-gone” due to a series of expensive overruns, finally started up in October 2016. The field, located in the north of the Caspian Sea is the biggest oil field opened in the last 40 years, while its recoverable oil reserves are assessed at 9-13 billion barrels.
The project participants are KMG Kashagan BV (16.88 percent), AGIP Caspian Sea BV (nearly 16.81 percent), CNPC Kazakhstan BV (8.33 percent), Exxon Mobil Kazakhstan Inc. (nearly 16.81 percent), INPEX North Caspian Sea Ltd. (nearly 16.81 percent), Shell Kazakhstan Development BV (nearly 16.81 percent), and Total E&P Kazakhstan (nearly 16.81 percent). The field is operated by North Caspian Operating Company BV (NCOC).
Currently, Kashagan oil is exported via pipelines of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and the Kazakh national company KazTransOil.
Kazakhstan's proven oil reserves as of early 2016 stood at 30 billion barrels, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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