Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 26 /Trend D.Mukhtarov/
There was not an accident at the Bolashak plant at Kashagan field, that was a check of the whole pipeline, Kazakh Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin told journalists on the sidelines of the Senate (upper house) of Kazakh Parliament.
"In fact, it was not so much an accident, but a check of the whole line. The works at the sections are in debug mode. In this case the point is that, there was a gas leakage in a small amount at the pipeline which stretches in the direction of Bolashak," the Minister said.
According to him, the pressure in the pipeline was reduced and the operaton of the wells was stopped.
"This is not the first case when the system is stopped. And the system is not something that is being repaired, but something that is debugged. Today, works are being carried out to determine the exact 'diagnosis' and measures will be taken. We expect that it will last three or four days. So during these days, there will not be a production for three or four days, from September 25," he said.
According to him, this stop should not affect the commercial production.
"Today, the capacities of the plant and the well are enough to provide a commercial level. The system itself is capable of providing the level of commercial production, in case if we now debug everything completely. At present we do not see any particular reason not to achieve the goals," the minister underscored.
He reminded that Kashagan is a multi-billion field.
"There are few such fields in the world. This is a field, which has a large amount of hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, alongside with oil. The equipment that prepares oil and gas to a marketable condition - is a complicated hardware, which must work as a single-unit. Debugging of such an equipment is not a simple issue," Karabalin added.
It was earlier reported that, there was a gas leakage at the Bolashak plant in Atyrau oblast. The oil is delivered to Bolashak plant from the Kashagan offshore field.