First oil from 'Kashagan' field is planned to be produced in 2014, Deputy Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Richard Jones said in Atyrau making a report within the scope of the 3rd International Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition 'The development of the Caspian shelf'.
"As far as I know, the production at 'Kashagan' will start in 2014, a few months after the tem expiration," Richard Jones said responding to reporters' questions after the speech.
As reported before, the official oil production launch at 'Kashagan' was scheduled for October 2013.
Meanwhile, an informed Kazakh oilman confirmed in an interview with Trend on the sidelines of the conference on the condition of anonymity that the date of the commissioning of 'Kashagan' field has been postponed from October 2013 to autumn 2014.
"Commissioning of the field has been postponed to April of the next year," the source said.
Kashagan is a major hydrocarbon deposit in the north of the Caspian Sea with geological oil reserves of 4.8 billion tons. The total oil reserves are 38 billion barrels (six billion tons), with a recoverable volume of about 10 billion barrels. Natural gas reserves are estimated at over one trillion cubic meters.
An agreement was signed in late May of 2012 to settle certain issues between the Kazakh Government and contracting companies working on the North-Caspian project. According to agreements, the parties approved an amendment to the plan and the development budget of the Kashagan. It authorizes commercial production in the period from December 2012 to June 2013.
Launching oil production at "Kashagan" was postponed several times. The consortium of foreign companies led by Eni initially promised to guarantee commercial production in 2008, later it was postponed until 2011. Another memorandum was later signed. Commercial oil production at the "Kashagan" field in the Caspian Sea was postponed until 2013.
At present, the Kashagan project's participants are Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total and KazMunaiGas, which own equal numbers of shares (16.81 per cent), as well as ConocoPhillips - 8.4 per cent and Japan's Inpex - 7.56 per cent.