Astana, Kazakhstan, July 28
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
"KazMunaiGas" Exploration Production JSC intends to expand its resource base through the acquisition of existing fields and by finding new ones, according to the press service of the company.
"The main exploration sites are located in Mangistau, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan and Kyzylorda provinces. The work is being carried out on the expansion of assets` portfolio. At present, the study of the prospects of new assets is being carried out and the negotiations are being held with several mining companies for the acquisition. Also the work is being done to find new promising non-contracted facilities," the report said.
The geological and geophysical materials are acquired in various regions of Kazakhstan to this end, including in the regions that have not previously belonged to oil and gas regions, with the purpose to conduct geological evaluation and selection of prospective areas for subsoil use.
"There are some 15 promising sedimentary basins for oil and gas in Kazakhstan however, the petroleum operations are conducted in only five of them. The others are not currently exploited and poorly studied. It is necessary to carry out systematic geological and geophysical study of undeveloped (free of contracts) areas, by using modern technology," the press-service said.
Furthermore, the company said that the market of mergers and acquisitions in the oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan today is quite limited, as the large onshore assets are developed by the international oil companies and consortia, which are the strategic players.
"At the moment, promising onshore assets are the exploration projects with potential discovery of hydrocarbon in deep subsalt horizons," the KMG EP said.
However, it is necessary to realize clearly that subsalt horizons on land require careful, long-term study, because of the high geological risks, and even in the case of positive results of exploration, access to industrial production volumes is a quite distant prospect, according to the company's report.
Edited by CN