Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The commencement of oil production from the giant Kashagan field located in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea is planned in the second half of 2013, the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) reported on Monday.

The production will start from the Bolashak complex and then continue in the A and D islands, the report said.

Kashagan is one of the largest fields discovered in the past 40 years. Recoverable oil reserves of Kashagan are estimated at 11 billion barrels, whereas total geological crude reserves stand at 35 billion barrels. It is believed to be the largest oil field in the world after Prudo Bay in Alaska. Besides, natural gas reserves are estimated at over 1 trillion cubic meters.

It is planned to drill 40 wells within the first stage of the project. Twenty wells have been drilled till productive layer while 11 wells were partially drilled. The drilling will be completed in a short time, the report said.

"It is needed to drill nine more wells," the report said.

Kazakh Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Yerbolat Dossayev said in April that oil production at the giant Kashagan field located in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea might be postponed from June to early September.

Kazakh Oil and gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev said the oil production at the Kashagan field will start by September 2013 at latest.

As of late April the expenses to the implementation of the first stage of the Kashagan project amounted to $40.6 billion.

The production volume should amount to 1.9 million barrels per day in 2015, while this figure will reach 2.6 million barrels per day in 2020.

Experts believe that increase of oil production in Kazakhstan completely depends on the start of the Kashagan production as it is currently the only oil field capable of significantly boosting oil production in the country.