BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 17
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Phase II-A of Kazakhstan’s Kashagan oil and gas field development project is now in the final stages of preliminary basic design, the company told Trend.
In 2022, North Caspian Operating Company should begin the basic design of Stage II of the Kashagan oil and gas field development. To the date, the work is at the pre-FEED stage.
Various options and concepts for increasing oil production at Kashagan up to a peak of 500,000 barrels per day are being considered and developed as part of this project. Further increase in oil production implies also an increase in the volume of gas utilization.
“It is assumed that under Phase II-A, after the stage of initial separation at the offshore complex the raw gas will be transported to the onshore complex and then passed to a third party for further treatment. This requires the installation of a pipeline from 'D Island' to the existing onshore complex, and a pipeline to the third-party plant to transfer raw gas,” the company said.
Phase II-A project is now in the final stages of preliminary basic design. Based on the results of this work, it is expected that in the near future (with the full agreement of all interested parties) there will be a transition to the next stage - the basic design phase, which is expected to take place during 2022-2023. It includes the technical design and future works, obtaining the necessary approvals and permits.
“Upon the completion of the Basic Design phase, a final investment decision will be considered. If a positive decision is made, the project will move into the implementation phase of the project, which is tentatively scheduled for 2024-2026,” the company said.
The Kashagan field is one of the three largest oil fields located in the northern part of the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. Its recoverable reserves reach approximately 9-13 billion barrels (1-2 billion tons) of oil.
The first commercial oil production started at Kashagan in 2016. The project operator - North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) - shipped the first million tons of oil for export in early 2017. NCOC has reached a record-breaking volume of oil extraction at the field (390,000-400,000 barrels a day) in 2019.
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