Azerbaijan, Baku, March 12 / Trend S. Suleymanov /
The budget of the project development of the Kazakh field Kashagan in 2010 has been reduced to $1,762 billion, KazMunayGas Authoritative Body Managing Director Maksat Idenov said.
"The proposed amount is quite high. KMG's task is to continue to reduce costs. We have established a special group that works to reduce the cost of the project," Idenov said. According to him, the group carefully checks each expenses.
"We have recently completed work on the budget discussion with the operator of the project - NCOC company at the Kashagan field in 2010. We have been able to reduce 10.45 billion to 8.688 billion," the managing director said.
He said that the main principle was observed while reducing the budget. There was no damage of the technical integrity of the project, the commercial production and ecology.
Kashagan is the largest deposit in Kazakhstan's part of the Caspian Sea. According to official sources, the recoverable reserves from this field are estimated at 7-9 billion barrels.
A decision was made two years ago, after negotiations between the Kazakh government with the participants of an international consortium. The consortium dealt with development of this field. According to it, Kazakhstan has become a major shareholder in the project, increasing its share almost twice to 16.83 percent.
Duties and responsibilities within the consortium also significantly changed. A new operating company known as the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) was established. The same participants remained but roles and responsibilities were redistributed.