Over the course of three years of North Caspian Operating Company’s (NCOC) operations in Kazakhstan, which is developing the Kashagan oil field, company’s performance indicators became comparable to those of leading companies worldwide, a representative of NCOC told Trend.
According to the representative, company’s approach to oil output increase maintains unchanged and consists of gradual and consistent application of planned measures aimed at provision of equipment security at sea and land complex, as well as technological processes taking into account the collector behavior. At the same time, the official said, the main priority of the company continues to be the operational safety.
Among the key operational achievements of the company are:
– reaching the standard condition of all the company’s products (oil, gas and sulfur) within 48 hours from the production start;
– continuous increase of extraction volume at Kashagan field up to 380,000 barrels a day exceeding the project capacity of 370,000 barrels a day;
– successful implementation of the overhaul at Kashagan field ahead of schedule (from April 14, 2019 till May 19, 2019, i.e. 32 days instead of planned 45 days);
– implementation of gas injection during maximum injection capacity of a well;
– achievement of operational reliability and safety of world-class production facilities level with continuous improvement year-on-year.
Developed with an estimated investment of $55 billion, Kashagan phase one represents the biggest international investment in Kazakhstan till date. Developed in harsh offshore environment, it is also considered to be one of the world’s most technically challenging oil and gas project completed so far.
According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy, over the course of three years of the Kashagan project’s development, the volume of revenue to the budget amounted to nearly $700 million.
Projects of Kashagan field expansion worth $2 billion being implemented since 2017 are aimed to reach oil output at the level of 420,000 barrels a day in 2022 and 500,000 barrels a day in 2027.
Presently, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy is waiting for NCOC to submit the concept of large-scale Kashagan field development within the framework of future work on the field.
