Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17
Trend:
The oil production at the Kashagan field will increase to 370,000 barrels per day after repair, which is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2019, three sources in the oil companies told Reuters.
The production of raw materials at Kashagan field this year was unstable due to planned and unscheduled repairs. As of September 14, the production at Kashagan field is 44,000 tons per day (349,000 barrels per day), according to the data provided by the sources.
The NCOC consortium, which manages the project, intended to reach the level of oil production at Kashagan field amounting to 370.000 barrels per day by the end of 2018, but postponed these plans for 2019.
The press service of the NCOC confirmed the intention to carry out repairs.
"The NCOC consortium is planning to hold... overhaul on IOGTU (Integrated Oil and Gas Treatment Unit) Bolashak and on the D Island in the spring of 2019", the company said in response to the Reuters’ inquiry.
"The overhaul means a complete shutdown of work for a short period of time every two to three years to ensure safety during technical inspections and routine maintenance of equipment. This work is carried out on any project related to development of oil fields and lasts no more than a few weeks," the press service said, without explaining how much the volume of production will change.
A source in the oil company said that the repair will begin in mid-April and will last 50 days.
"During the repair at the Bolashak plant, it is planned to drill additional wells to increase gas production and turn some production wells into injection wells, which will increase oil production to 370.000 barrels per day," he said.
The PSA company, a subsidiary entity of JSC NC KazMunaiGas, confirmed the plans on repair work at the field, but did not specify its details.
"It has really been envisaged to carry out the planned repairs of the production facilities of the Bolashak plant in the spring of 2019. The exact dates of the shutdown of the facilities, as well as the expected duration of the repair will become known later," the press service of the company said in a written response to Reuters.
The PSA company intends to reach production levels of up to 370.000 barrels of oil per day during 2019, the company said.
In August, the scheduled repairs were carried out at Kashagan field, during which the production at the field was reduced to 26,000-27,000 tons (206,000-214,000 barrels) per day.
Kashagan, the world's largest oil field discovered in recent decades and the world's most expensive oil project, began commercial oil production in November 2016.
The Kashagan field is developed by the NCOC consortium, which brings together the Italian Eni, the American ExxonMobil, and the Chinese CNPC [CNPET.UL], the British-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L, the French Total, the Japanese Inpex Holdings Inc. and the Kazakh KazMunaiGas companies.