Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 10 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
A gas leak at the Bolashak plant in the Kashagan project is a normal process of testing the equipment before commissioning the field, Kazakh Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin told Trend on Tuesday after the regular meeting of the Kazakh government.
"This is a normal process while testing the equipment to eliminate all problems before commissioning," he said. "The equipment and field are both complex."
He also stressed that the launching of 'trial of oil' scheduled for September 9 this year has been postponed.
"But we expect that from day to day," he added. "As soon as we launch it, journalists will be told about it."
It was earlier reported that a serious accident that resulted in the evacuation of staff occurred at the Bolashak Integrated Oil and Gas Plant in Atyrau on August 26.
"Sensors recorded leakage of liquefied gas under high pressure," a source said. "Сrimping of equipment and piping is currently carried out at the Bolashak and marine complexes whereby the processed hydrogen sulphide gas from the gas distribution system Makat is used. If there was Kahagan oil saturated with hydrogen at the plant lines during an accident, the consequences would have been much more serious."
Deputy Head of the Department of Ecology of the Atyrau region Ruslan Tukenov confirmed that the incident took place. The information was received from the Department of the Prosecutor's Office and the National Security Committee of Makat district.
"While managers of Agip KCO, the project operator, tell the environmentalists that nothing serious has happened, a check has started on the fact of the incident," the source said.
Chairman of the Board of KazMunaiGas national company Sauat Mynbayev reported that trial runs of oil will start at Kashagan oil and gas field on September 9 and commercial production will start in three to four weeks.
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 or six billion tons with some 10 billion out of them being recoverable reserves.