World Monitor Magazine WM_KIOGE 2018_Web | Page 12

DESTINATION KAZAKHSTAN

The 25 th anniversary of the North Caspian Project

The North Caspian Project is the first major project to develop offshore oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan . It consists of five deposits : Kashagan , Kalamkas-Sea , Kairan , Aktoty and South-West Kashagan .
The giant Kashagan field is one of the largest oil fields discovered in the last four decades with its recoverable reserves producing approximately 9-13 billion barrels ( 1-2 billion tons ) of oil . The collector of the Kashagan offshore field is 80 km from the city of Atyrau at a depth of 3-4 meters under the water and more than 4 km ( 4,200 meters ) below the sea floor .
In 2016 for the first time in the history of Kazakhstan , commercial production of oil began at the offshore field Kashagan . The Project Operator , North Caspian Operating Company NV ( NCOC ), completed an important project to replace the pipelines ahead of schedule , and on September 28 reopened the first wells at the offshore complex .
The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev congratulated participants and veterans of the project on this event during his visit to Atyrau on December 7 , 2016 .
The first one million tons of oil was exported in early 2017 , and by mid-2017 NCOC reached an actual production level of more than 200,000 barrels per day in compliance with security requirements .
Taking into account the scale and technical difficulties , the North Caspian
project will be implemented in stages . The estimated costs of Phase 1 of the development of Kashagan , within which commercial production began in 2016 , are approximately $ 55 billion USD .
Main stages of the Project
In 2017 , NCOC and its shareholders celebrated the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Production Sharing Agreement for the Northern Caspian ( SRPSK ).
On November 18 , 1997 in Washington , the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Consortium of the world ' s leading oil and gas companies agreed on the legal basis that initiated the implementation of the largest project in the history of a young independent state with foreign direct investment . SRPSK was prepared on the basis of the December 1993 agreement on the largest 2-D seismic survey in the oil and gas industry . This historic stage coincides with the anniversary of the beginning of production at Kashagan , which was celebrated in September 2017 .
In 2018 , the North Caspian project marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the international consortium " Kazakhstan Caspian Spill " in
December 1993 and the beginning of seismic exploration in the Caspian Sea .
Project features
Stage 1 of Kashagan development is currently one of the largest and most complex industry projects in the world , taking into account the complexities in the field of industrial safety , design , and logistics in combination with severe environmental conditions at sea .
The project ' s work involves solving unique and complex technical tasks and coordinating the delivery system in harsh environmental conditions at sea , where the air temperature can fall below -30 ° C in winter and rise to + 40 ° C in summer .
Due to the low level of mineralization caused by the inflow of fresh water from the Volga , in combination with shallow ( 3-4 meters ) and subarctic climate , the Northern Caspian is covered with ice for about five months a year . Ice breaks and the formation of furrows from the movement of ice on the sea floor represent serious limitations for construction , production operations and logistics , which require the use of innovative technical solutions .
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