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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