Trend:
Oil production at huge Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan will not be cut or frozen at the current level despite Kazakhstan’s commitment to reduce oil output within the deal with OPEC, External Affairs department in the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) consortium, developing the field told Trend May 31.
The source said that over three million tons of oil has been produced at Kashagan since the launch of the field in the fall of 2016. Currently the confirmed production capacity of the field is 180,000 barrels of oil per day.
“The production level of 370,000 barrels per day is expected to be reached within the Phase 1 of Kashagan development by the end of 2017, after the start of reverse injection of associated (sulphurous) gas and optimization,” a source in the NCOC said.
Kashagan located in the north part of the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea is one of the biggest oil fields opened in the last 40 years. Its recoverable oil reserves are assessed at 9-13 billion barrels.
Oil production at Kashagan was launched in autumn 2016 after many delays.
The project participants are KMG Kashagan BV (16.88 percent), AGIP Caspian Sea BV (nearly 16.81 percent), CNPC Kazakhstan BV (8.33 percent), Exxon Mobil Kazakhstan Inc. (nearly 16.81 percent), INPEX North Caspian Sea Ltd. (nearly 16.81 percent), Shell Kazakhstan Development BV (nearly 16.81 percent), and Total E&P Kazakhstan (nearly 16.81 percent). The field is operated by North Caspian Operating Company BV (NCOC).
In late 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached a deal to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting as much as 486,000 bpd.
Non-OPEC producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd. The agreement was for a six-month period, extendable for another six months.
Within the deal, Kazakhstan has committed to cut oil output by 20,000 barrels per day from the November 2016.
Last week, all the participants of last year’s agreement agreed to extend it to another nine months.