Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov spoke at a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of the development of the Kazakh shelf of the Caspian Sea, Turanews.kz reports.
Smailov said that since 1993, colossal research work has been carried out in the Northern Caspian, which has made it possible to identify dozens of promising structures.
“The main result of exploration drilling was the announcement of the commercial discovery of the Kashagan field. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it has huge oil and gas reserves, but at the same time it is difficult to develop.”, he said
Smailov noted that at that time the oil industry of young independent Kazakhstan on the sea shelf was just emerging, and foreign investors were getting acquainted with the peculiarities of the Northern Caspian. These include harsh winter conditions, shallow waters and high environmental sensitivity.
“A lot of effort and money has been invested in innovative technologies for the manufacture of specialized equipment suitable specifically for the conditions of the Kashagan project,” he said.
Smailov stressed that today the results of this painstaking work are visible: about 90 million tons of oil and 55 billion cubic meters of gas have been produced, investments worth more than $60 billion have been attracted, more than $17 billion has been invested in the development of local content, about 10 thousand people have been provided with jobs, and at the peak of construction – more than 40 thousand people.
He noted that the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) consortium, the operator of the North Caspian project, faces important tasks to further increase production through full-scale development of the field. According to experts, the production potential of Kashagan can reach 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, which is about 75 million tons per year.
“An important issue is the development of gas processing capacities at the field,” said Smailov.
“As is known, this task was set by the Head of State for the Government and we must fulfill it on time and in full. I am sure that the NCOC team has great potential to achieve its goals.” he added.
Smailov also said that the Government of Kazakhstan is always open to a constructive dialogue within the framework of the implementation of joint plans.
“We highly appreciate the contribution of the Consortium to the development of the oil and gas industry and are committed to further expanding long-term cooperation,” he concluded.
NCOC Managing Director Olivier Lazare also spoke at the event.
“I am proud of our current achievements and hope that together with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan we will achieve even greater success,” he said.
“As an Operator, NCOC seeks to bring the maximum possible benefit to the economy of Kazakhstan and make a feasible contribution to the dynamic development of the country.” he added.
In accordance with the Decree of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan presented the veterans of the North Caspian project with state awards for their contribution to the socio-economic development of Kazakhstan.
Managers and responsible employees of NCOC, as well as veterans of the project, were awarded the orders “Parasat”, “Kurmet”, “Dostyk” II degree, “Enbek danky” III degree and the medal “Eren enbegi ushin”.
