Azernews.Az

Construction of the offshore field Kashagan and construction of a plant for oil in the Atyrau region is nearing completion in Kazakhstan. The production will begin next spring, Khabar TV channel reported, citing North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) Managing Director Pierre Offlant.

It is planned to extract up to 450,000 barrels of crude a day from Kashagan at the first stage, and the capacity of Bolashak plant allows to process up to 22.5 million tons of oil and over six billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Kashagan field's reserves are estimated at eight billion barrels of oil.

It is also planned to begin the initial phase of development of another offshore field - Kalamkas-sea in parallel with the development of Kashagan oil. It was discussed during the visit of Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov to the region.

"We are negotiating with the government of Kazakhstan on development of Kalamkas-Sea, located a few dozen kilometers from Kashagan," Offlant said.

Geological reserves of Kalamkas-sea estimated at no less than 200 million tons of oil. According to specialists, production will reach 1.5 million barrels per day at the peak after the production of the Kazakh offshore industry will reach the industrial level.