Kazakhstan Minister of Oil and Gas Industry Uzakbay Karabalin expressed disappointment with delay of development of Kashagan field in the Kazakhstan sector of the Caspian Sea, but he does not see legal grounds to pressure the consortium implementing this shelf project.
“We cannot push it (the consortium). This is a huge and dangerous field and we cannot exert pressure legally,” Reuters quoted Minister.
Earlier Kazakhstan Minister of Economy and Budget Planning Yervolat Dosayev admitted that Kashagan will not be able to achieve commercial production in 2014. In September 2013 production on the field was suspended two weeks after its launching, because of gas leakage. Right after resumption of production in October 2013 another leakage was detected.
The projects partners include KazMunaiGas (KMG), Eni, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Inpex. Chinese CNPC bought 8.33% share in the project from KMG. The geological resources of Kashagan are estimated st 4.8 billion tons of oil. Total oil resources reach 38 billion barrles, of which about 10 billion barrels are extractible ones and over 1 trillion cub.m. are natural gas resources.
