Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Work on the pipelines replacement at Kashagan oil field in Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will start in winter, Kazinform reported.
Head of Kazakhstan's Atyrau region Baktikozha Izmuhambetov announced these plans at a briefing in the office of the Central Communications Service on Oct. 17.
"We need to wait for winter. Then we will be able to start working on the pipes replacement in shallow and coastal of the sea," Izmuhambetov said.
The equipment will not be able to reach the pipes in these areas till the sea is frozen, he said.
Kashagan's launch which oil reserves amounts to about 38 billion barrels, including 10 billion of recoverable reserves experienced several delays since 2005. Eventually oil production at the field was launched on September 11, 2013, but was suspended two weeks later following detection of two gas leaks in the onshore section of the gas pipeline running from D Island to the onshore processing facility Bolashak.
The project operator North Caspian Operating Co (NCOC) confirmed the need to completely replace the gas and oil pipelines at the field in April.
The total volume of investments in the project is currently equal to $50 billion.
Kashagan field is developed by consortium formed by Kazakh KazMunaiGas, Italian Eni, U.S. ExxonMobil, Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, French Total, Japanese Inpex and Chinese CNPC.
Edited by T.T.
Work on pipelines replacement at Kazakh Kashagan field to start in winter
Work on the pipelines replacement at Kashagan oil field in Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will start in winter