Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Kazakh National oil and gas company KazMunaiGas plans to use latest technology in the energy sector, First Deputy Chairman of the company Christopher Hopkinson said in an interview with The Business Year magazine.
"We have a plan to set up our institute here in Astana, namely the Institute for Drilling, which will train technicians in field development, maximizing recovery, and opportunity identification," he said.
"In the next few weeks a visualization and communication center will open, with an open-plan, collaborative, and integrated working space, where we will have about 150 institute employees," Hopkinson said. "They will be able to use the latest technology as far as the visualization of our reservoirs goes, and enjoy quick turnaround on models."
This will allow to look ahead and predict the behavior of wells and new approaches intended to be implemented. Moreover this will also give direct communications with the institutes in the cities of Aktau and Atyrau, as well as the laboratories, which are going to be fully integrated within one institute structure.
"We will be able to support our operating fields and our exploration projects-onshore and offshore-by using the latest IT and measurement technologies to speed up the decision-making process," Hopkinson said.
He noted that the delay in production at Kashagan field is very unfortunate, and KazMunaiGas continues working closely with its partners to make sure that they are sticking to the time schedule.
"Kashagan was expected to be a huge chunk of production, and so it will be difficult to make up for that in less than two years," Hopkinson said.
Meanwhile, the company is accelerating production at other projects, namely the Tengiz and Karachaganak oil fields.
The majority of KazMunaiGas' onshore fields are 40-60 years old, which is a late stage of development and, thus, it is a challenge to increase production from those fields, according to the First Deputy Chairman.
"There are many opportunities and we are working very closely with the regions to identify opportunities where we can increase production in a sustainable way," he said.
In the exploration sphere the main challenge is about the environment.
"KMG has to keep prices at a level that will allow us to develop what we find: it is expensive to ensure that a site will be environmentally secured, meaning that operations won't damage the fauna and flora of the Caspian Sea, and it has to be protected from massive ice flows during the winter period," he said.
Edited by S.I.
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