BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 17
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) will take measures to expand the operations on D Island at Kazakhstan’s Kashagan field as part of the Stage II of the field development, the company told Trend.
In 2022-2023 Front End Engineering Development engineering works are planned for phase IIA.
“Phase IIA envisages expansion of the operations on D Island to increase the oil production to the nominal level of 500 kbopd through processing the additional gas volumes (2 BCMA, billion cubic meters per annum) with involvement of a third party. The scope includes a new offshore pipeline, debottlenecking at the offshore and onshore facilities to enhance their performance and an export pipeline to the third party plant,” the company said.
The company noted that if its shareholders take an investment decision in 2-3 years, the production level can increase by 50 kbopd and result in the total production volume of approximately 500 kbopd.
“The next project under consideration is Phase IIB, which envisages drilling of additional wells, laying the pipelines, and constructing a new mini onshore plant OPF (Onshore Processing Facility), if approved by the Shareholders and Kazakhstan’s government. Phase IIB has a potential to increase Kashagan production by 200 kbopd,” the company added.
The North Caspian Project is the first major offshore oil and gas development project in Kazakhstan. It covers three fields: Kashagan, Kairan, and Aktoty.
The Kashagan field is one of the three largest oil fields located in the northern part of the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. Its recoverable reserves reach approximately 9-13 billion barrels (1-2 billion tons) of oil.
The first commercial oil production started at Kashagan in 2016. The project operator - North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) - shipped the first million tons of oil for export in early 2017. NCOC has reached a record-breaking volume of oil extraction at the field (390,000-400,000 barrels a day) in 2019.
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