Azernews.Az

There is no infrastructure in Kazakhstan to increase oil processing at Kashagan first pilot development phase of up to 450,000 barrels per day, managing director of the Kazakh Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna, Malik Salimgereyev, said at a press conference on Tuesday, Trend news agency reported.

Salimgereyev deals with the issues of developing the national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas.
"The existing tanks and plants are not designed for processing 450,000 barrels," Salimgereyev.

The first phase of the project involves the production volume of around 370,000 barrels of oil per day with a possible increase to 450,000 barrels.

Kashagan is one of the largest fields discovered in the past 40 years. Kazakh geologists estimate geological oil reserves of 4.8 billion tons. According to the project operator, total oil reserves are 38 billion barrels (six billion tons), with a recoverable volume of about 10 billion barrels. Natural gas reserves are estimated at over one trillion cubic meters.

The companies developing the project are planning to begin commercial production on Kashagan in the first quarter of 2013.

At present the Kashagan project participants are Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total and KazMunaiGas, which owns equal shares (16.81 per cent), as well as ConocoPhillips - 8.4 per cent and Japan's Inpex - 7.55 per cent.