Azernews.Az

The Kazakh national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas (KMG) has started implementation of its own subsalt drilling program.

A source on the Kazakh oil and gas market told Trend news agency that the areas, where the wells will be drilled at a greater depth, have been determined. All subsalt sites are located in Atyrau and Aktobe regions of the country.

The matter rests in the Temir block where French Total partner will be KazMunaiGas's partner, as well as Darkhan and Makhambet blocks located in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian shelf.

"A deep well is being drilled on the Urikhtau block," the source said. "There are plans on well drilling at a depth of 5.5 kilometers in the Uzen-Karamandybas field where the drilling operations are planned to be launched in May 2014."

Temir block is in Aktobe region, while Karamandybas - in the area of Ozenmunaigas's activity in Mangistau region of Kazakhstan.

Urikhtau gas condensate field is in Aktobe region. KazMunaiGas has a 30-year contract for the hydrocarbon exploration and production in this field. It was signed in December 2008 following the direct negotiations with the competent body.

The initial free gas, condensate, oil and dissolved gas in place in the amount of 39.815 billion cubic meters, 11.623 million tons, 6.493 billion tons, and 2.389 billion cubic meters in the Urikhtau oil and gas field were approved in the State Reserves Committee of the USSR (SRC's protocol No. 10526 of 28 October 1988).

Atyraumunaygaz will drill a subsalt well at a depth of 6,000 meters in the Caspian Sea section Makhambet in 2014. This is the extreme point on the western part of the so-called Kashagan-Tengiz area. At this point, there are favorable conditions for discovering oil deposits.

Atyraumunaygaz company is a subsidiary of the Chinese-Kazakh company Mangistaumunaigas. It has the license for Makhambet and Bobek sites in the northern part of the Caspian Sea.