Azerbaijan, Baku, May 15 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), the operator of one of the largest oil fields in the world the Kashagan in Kazakhstan, expects to begin oil production with 75,000 barrels per day, Novosti-Kazakhstan quotes NCOC deputy managing director Zhakyp Marabayev as saying.
"We plan to produce roughly 75,000 barrels per day at the start of production," Marabayev said on the sidelines of the CIS Oil and Gas Summit, organized by The Energy Exchange.
According to Marabayev, in the first phase of the Kashagan development NCOC plans to bring oil production up to 350,000 barrels and perhaps even to 450,000 barrels of oil per day.
"The configuration of our facilities permits to produce 350,000 barrels per day. If the issue on increasing associated gas pumping into the layer is positively resolved, we will be able to increase oil production up to 450,000 barrels per day. We have already appealed to the [Kazakh] Government with this request," Marabayev said.
The trial oil production at Kashagan will start in early autumn.
The budget and specifications of the second phase of the Kashagan development will be determined in 2012. However, if the decision on the second phase is not taken even in 2012, the start of production will not be delayed, Marabayev said.
According to Marabayev, oil production will be significantly increased within the second phase, but it is too early to say whether it will be doubled.
Kashagan is Kazakhstan's super-giant oil and gas field located in the north of the Caspian Sea.
According to the Kazakh geologists, geological reserves at Kashagan are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil.
Oil production in the field is slated to begin in late 2012. The second phase scheduled for 2018 -2019.
At present, the participants of the Kashagan project are the companies Eni (roughly 16.81 percent), KMG (roughly 16.81 percent), Total (roughly 16.81 percent), ExxonMobil (roughly 16.81 percent), and Royal Dutch Shell (roughly 16.81 percent). Other participants are ConocoPhillips (8.4 percent) and Inpex (7.56 percent). The project is managed by North Caspian Operating Company, or NCOC.
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