Kazakhstan, Astana, March 4 / Trend, D.Mukhtarov /
Some 100 million tenge (($1- 150.6 tenge) will be invested in the technical improvement of Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (KMG EP), the company's Director General Abat Nurseitov told Trend on Monday.
"The company has launched a programme of technological modernisation. It is designed for three years with an estimated amount of investments being more than 100 billion tenge," Nurseitov says.
He said the new programme aims to increase oil production volume.
A base for diagnosis and repair of underground equipment, a tank farm, two sites for the preparation of liquid for killing wells, a service area for oilfield equipment and repair shop for oil equipment will be built within the program of technical modernization in the production unit of KMG EP - JSC Ozenmunaigas.
"A unit for desulphurisation of associated oil gas from the Prorvinsky group of fields will be constructed in another production unit - JSC Embamunaigas, and the Prorva-Tengiz pipeline will be reconstructed," Nurseitov said.
In addition, he said, a unit will be built for associated gas utilisation at the fields of S.Balgimbaeva and Eastern Makat.
"The construction of the high pressure Akingen - Akkuduk - Kisimbay gas pipeline with length of 61 kilometres is underway," Nurseitov added.
KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil and gas producers. Its overall production in 2011 was 12.3mt (an average of 250 kbopd) of crude oil, including the company's share in Kazgermunai, CCEL and PKI. The total volume of proven and probable reserves as at the end of 2011, was 226mt (1.7bn bbl.), including shares in the associates of about 2.1 billion barrels.
The company's shares are listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the GDRs are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company raised over US$2bn in its IPO in September 2006. The international rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) confirmed KMG EP's 'BBB-' corporate credit rating in December 2011.