MOSCOW, February 12 (RIA Novosti) – A US government energy agency says it believes a major oil project in Kazakhstan that has been marred by chronic delays and closures will restart production in the second half of 2014.
The Energy Information Administration said in an outlook report Tuesday that resumption of output at Kashagan could result in a growth in fuel production in Kazakhstan over the next two years.
Kashagan, which in 2000 became the largest oil discovery in around four decades, has been halted since its launch in September due to defects found in pipes. The project was suspended in October and a date for a restart to operations has not yet been officially announced.
The EIA said in a forecast in its Short-Term Energy Outlook Supplement on liquid fuels that Kashagan would ramp up production in 2015. It said that high costs and development challenges would prevent the field from hitting its phase one target of 370,000 barrels per day, however.
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev told Bloomberg news agency in an interview published Wednesday that he expected substantial output from Kashagan by this year.
“Everything’s in place: output, drilling, the oil and gas, a gas-processing plant,” Nazarbayev told Bloomberg. “The pipeline will be repaired and will work.”
Kashagan is operated by an international consortium of energy majors, including Eni, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, which all have 16.81 percent stakes. Other shares in the venture are held by China National Petroleum Corp. and Inpex Corp. of Japan, which control 8.33 percent and 7.56 percent stakes respectively. The other 16.88 percent of the project is controlled by state oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz.
The EIA report said the former Soviet state’s overall oil production should grow by 90,000 barrels per day in 2014 and by 130,000 million barrels per day next year. Kazakhstan’s authorities estimate that oil output reached 600,000 barrels daily last year.
If Kashagan’s commercial production were to be delayed beyond 2015, the EIA report said, it would lead to a downward revision of the total projected supply growth over the next two years.
The oil field’s operating company said last month that it expects the results of an inspection at the site in February. Depending on those results, the company will decide when to restart.
