International Consortium for Eurasia Caspian project established

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ASTANA. KAZINFORM Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev took part in the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Energy Ministry and the Committee for Geology and Subsoil Use of the Ministry of Investment and Development on the one hand and a group of interested companies potential participants in the "Eurasia" international project, Kazinform correspondent reports.

Among the companies who signed the document were KMG Eurasia LLP, Agip Caspian Sea B.V., LLC RN-Exploration, CNPC International Ltd, SOKAR, NEOS Geosolutions.

"A historical document has been signed today. It marks the beginning of a large
"Eurasia" project on which Kazakhstan has been working for the past 4-5 years. The point is that global companies with their latest developments in geophysical research are joining a consortium that together with our Kazmunaigaz will study the depths of the Caspian depression. The area of the depression lies from Karachaganak, Tengiz to Kyzylorda region and par of it goes to Russia. We have appropriate agreements with the state bodies of the Russian Federation and shall be engaged in geological study. The work will consist of three stages, the first being the interpretation of available data in accordance with modern methods, the second stage is geophysical research. If, after geophysical research, there will be a fairly high probability that there is hydrocarbon raw material, then the third stage will be drilling an ultra-deep well," Energy Minister said.

According to him, we are talking about superdeep horizons below 12 km.

"This is the basic document that specifies the principles of creating the consortium and the companies state that they want to carry out this work and create in the near future a consortium that will deal with these issues," added Kanat Bozumbayev

During the period of the memorandum, the sides will hold negotiations on the main commercial, technical and contractual terms of the Eurasia project on an exclusive basis with the aim of signing a contract for geological exploration of the Caspian depression in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.


, and oil and natural gas pipelines cross the depression from north to south and east to west. Many geologists believe the Caspian Sea and the depression were formed by tectonic forces. Some of them also believe that the North Caspian depression became separated from the open ocean in ancient times to form an enormous salt lake. Part of the ancient Silk Road ran through this region. The two largest cities in the depression are Astrakhan in Russia, and Atyrau in Kazakhstan. Today, the region is used mainly for livestock raising.

The Caspian depression is very rich in underground oil and gas reserves. The are is characterized by a complex geological structure and unique oil and gas deposits in the deep-lying sediments of the Paleozoic subsalt complex (Tengiz, Kashagan, Astrakhan), and potentially contains large undiscovered oil and gas reserves in deep-lying horizons.

Taking into account the fact that part of the Caspian depression is located in Russia, the authorized bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation have expressed intentions to exchange geological and geophysical data and coordinate their activities in the unification of the methodology of the ongoing studies of the depression. It is expected that the project will allow, firstly, to provide the oil and gas industry with a stable resource base as a kind of a "strategic reserve" of hydrocarbon raw materials; secondly, it will avoid decrease of production that could occur in 15-20 years, and third, it will become the foundation of the country's energy security, a protective mechanism in the event of possible economic shocks.

Probable reserves in the Caspian Basin are estimated at 60 billio

 

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