Azerbaijan, Baku, September 9 /Trend, E. Kosolapova/
Accession of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to the Kashagan oil and gas field project in Kazakhstan will yield positive results, according to senior analyst of the Agency for Research of Investments Profitability, Murat Abulgazin.
"China gives concrete proposals and proposes concrete financing. The company is pragmatic, practical and works actively and offensively. This is normal. While other investors think and trade too much, someone should actively pass to the onset," Abulgazin told Trend.
He reminded that the launch of commercial oil production in Kashagan was repeatedly postponed. But it is important for Kazakhstan that the project would work and income to the economy would begin, the expert noted.
"The project stalls in terms of finance and perhaps due to certain issues we don't know. After the financial crisis, as a result of changes in the oil and gas market, new trends appeared, centers of consumption and production shifted. The recalculation of company's opportunities and capacities takes place due to this. We hope that Kashagan will be activated with China's coming," Abulgazin noted.
He reminded that many countries' interests are concentrated in the energy resources of the Caspian Sea today.
"Today, the Caspian Sea is a reflection of a great geopolitical game between power centers. Oil and gas market is more affected by geopolitical factors rather economic ones. For instance, the U.S. doesn't particularly need oil, neither the Caspian, nor from some other source. It has enough oil. The U.S.needs oil only for controlling certain countries. This is the most powerful lever. As energy resources have been, are and will be the basic condition for mankind's existence in this planet for a long time," the expert said.
According to him, for its part, China is also interested in the energy resources of the Caspian Sea, as China's economy grows day by day and subsequently, the demand for energy resources also increases.
Abulgazin reminded that according to the statements of managers of Kazakhstan's oil and gas sphere, in the first stage of the field's development, the oil from Kashagan will not go towards China, but through the pipeline system of Caspian Pipeline Consortium, as such transportation option is more advantageous.
"The production should be increased for deliveries to China," he stressed.
Earlier, the CNPC signed an agreement with the Kazakh National oil and gas company, KazMunaiGas onsale of KMG's 8.3 percent share in Kashagan project to CNPC.
Kashagan is a large oil and gas field in Kazakhstan located in the north of the Caspian Sea. Its geological reserves are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil. The total oil reserves amount to 38 billion barrels, some 10 billion out of them are recoverable reserves. There are large natural gas reserves at the Kashagan field - over one trillion cubic meters.