Kazakhstan resumes production at its largest oil field

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Kazakhstan resumes oil production at the giant Kashagan field in the Kazakh waters of the Caspian Sea by the end of the year, UPI informs citing Ainash Chengelbayeva, the media relations advisor at the North Caspian Operating Company.

“Production is expected to ramp up initially to 180,000 barrels per day and further to 370,000 bpd during 2017,” Chengelbayeva said in an email.

The giant field achieved its first oil production in 2013 but was shut down in just a month because of a pipeline leak. It was operated by the North Caspian Operating Company jointly with Italy’s Eni, Kazakh state-held KazMunayGas, Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA, ExxonMobil, China National Petroleum Corporation, and Inpex.

The project will be relaunched in October but commercial volumes are planned to be reached in November, according to the state-owned company KazMunayGaz. However, analysts are quite skeptical about the partners’ expectations. They believe that the 370,000 bpd level may be reached no earlier than in 2026.