ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 26. Shell has paid tax totaling $208.4 million to the government of Kazakhstan in 2023, Trend reports.
According to Shell's report, the tax was paid for oil and gas production at Kazakhstan's Karachaganak field.
Shell, through its subsidiary business BG Karachaganak Limited, and Italian corporation Eni jointly operate the Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field. Karachaganak Petroleum Operating b.v. (KPO) is developing the field through a joint venture (participation shares: Shell - 29.25 percent, Eni - 29.25 percent, Chevron - 18 percent, LukOil - 13.5 percent, KazMunayGas - 10 percent).
The Karachaganak field was discovered in 1979 and is one of the world's largest oil and gas condensate fields. It is located in northwestern Kazakhstan and covers an area of more than 280 square kilometers. Its initial on-balance hydrocarbon reserves are expected to be 9 billion barrels of condensate and 48 trillion cubic feet of gas, with cumulative reserves exceeding 2.4 billion barrels of condensate and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas. Industrial production started in 1984.
Meanwhile, Shell strengthened its position as one of the biggest foreign investors in Kazakhstan by contributing more than $18 billion to the country's economy.
On March 18, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Oljas Bektenov has held a meeting with the Executive Vice President of Shell, Peter Costello, to discuss the status of their collaborative projects in the oil and gas industry.
It was noted that maintaining oil and condensate output at a level of at least 11 million tons annually is the top objective, according to the Karachaganak expansion project. In order to do this, the involved parties will guarantee the prompt commissioning of extra compressors for raw gas reinjection.
Concurrently, the question of building a 4 billion cubic meter per year gas processing plant in Karachaganak at the expense of the shareholders is being discussed in order to guarantee the project's complete operation.