Kashagan field and bright prospects of oil output in Kazakhstan
Oil is the main export product of Kazakhstan, and the country made every possible effort to increase oil production. However, the majority of Kazakhstan’s fields have already passed their production peak, and the oil output is getting low at these fields for natural reasons.
According to the Agency of Statistics of Kazakhstan, 81.79 million tons of oil and gas condensate were produced in 2013, 80.83 million tons of oil and gas condensate were produced in 2014, 79.46 million tons were produced in 2015 and 78.04 million tons in 2016.
But, it seems, the period of decline in oil production has remained in the past, and starting from 2017, Kazakhstan expects stable growth in oil output. The positive changes at the three largest Kazakh oil fields - Kashagan, Tengiz and Karachaganak, make it possible to hope that the situation will get better.
Oil production at the Kashagan field, the recoverable reserves of which amount to approximately 9-13 billion barrels of oil, was launched in the fall of 2016. Before that, the start of production at the field was postponed several times.
According to Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas company, more than 2 million tons of oil have been produced so far at this largest oil field discovered for the last 40 years. By the end of 2017, it is planned to increase oil production at the Kashagan field to 370,000 barrels per day.
For comparison, currently, the total oil and condensate production in Kazakhstan at all fields is about 220,000-240,000 barrels per day, which is 1.5 times less than it is expected by the end of 2017 at the Kashagan alone. This is while last summer, before oil production at the Kashagan started, the daily oil production in Kazakhstan was even less and amounted to about 180,000 barrels.
With the start of oil production at the Kashagan field, the forecasts of several international organizations on oil production in Kazakhstan immediately grew.
Analysts from the International Energy Agency (IEA), OPEC, the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy (EIA) link the increase in oil production namely with the Kashagan field. Key international financial organizations name the Kashagan field the main contributor of Kazakhstan’s GDP growth.
Thus, the significance of the Kashagan field for the oil sector of Kazakhstan is difficult to overestimate.
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