Oil reserves in Kazakhstan may rise to 76 bn tons
"Kazakhstan's reserves equal to 5.5 billion tons of oil, as currently estimated. These are recoverable reserves. In-place reserves amount to nearly 15 billion tons. Most of the large deposits are about 5 km deep, but the geologists believe that there is oil at much deeper points as well. As a result, the practical forecast resources have been increased up to 75-76 bn tons based on the reassessment of the deep-lying formations of the Caspian Depression and the Caspian Sea shelf, i.e. in salt domes at 5-12 km depth", President of the Kazakhstan Association of Petroleum Geologists Baltabek Kuandykov told Kazinform correspondent.
According to Baltabek Kuandykov, drilling of a superdeep borehole (15 km) will help to confirm these forecasts. An international consortium has been established to implement the project.