North Caspian project
The North Caspian Production Sharing Agreement (NCPSA) was signed in November 1997 between the Republic of Kazakhstan and an international consortium. Hydrocarbon exploration began in 1998 over an area of 5,600 square kilometers. In 2000, the giant Kashagan field was discovered within the framework of the NCSPSA.
The Kashagan field is located in the northern part of the Kazakhstan sector of the Caspian Sea. The field covers an area of approximately 75 by 45 kilometers. The field's geological oil reserves are estimated at 4.5 billion tons.
The phased development of the Kashagan field is necessary due to the ecological sensitivity of the Caspian Sea, harsh climatic conditions, technical complexity of the project, and stringent production safety requirements.
As part of the North Caspian project, the Kalamkas Sea field was discovered in 2002, followed by the Aktoty, Kairan, and South-West Kashagan fields in 2003. According to the results of exploration and appraisal, geological reserves of the Kalamkas Sea field amount to 284 million tons of oil, Aktoty field - 156 million tons of condensate, Kairan field - 112 million tons of oil and South-West Kashagan field - 20 million tons of condensate.
Current state
The development of the Kashagan field is currently in Stage 1.
The Kashagan field development scheme consists of onshore and offshore facilities. The onshore facilities include the Bolashak Integrated Oil and Gas Treatment Unit (IOGTU) and West Eskene railroad project. Among the offshore facilities, artificial structures that have already been constructed include the production and technological complex on Island “D,” Island “A,” early production centers on EPC-2, EPC-3, and EPC-4 islands, as well as drilling centers on DC-1, DC-4, and DC-5 islands (which are part of subsequent stages of Kashagan development). In addition, subsea pipelines within the field have also been installed.
All offshore facilities at the Kashagan field, which support oil and gas production, gas reinjection and well drilling, are installed on artificial islands. Onshore transportation of oil and gas will be provided by means of field pipelines to the onshore complex-(IOGTU) Bolashak. A portion of the produced gas volume will be reinjected back into the reservoir to utilize the gas and maintain reservoir pressure.
Production at the Kashagan field began on September 11, 2013.
Production at Kashagan was suspended in October 2013 due to the discovery of gas leaks on the 28-inch gas pipeline. Based on the results of in-line diagnostics, external inspections, and laboratory analyses, the Contractor Companies decided to fully replace the oil and gas pipelines between the Bolashak onshore complex and the offshore complex. The North Caspian Project Operator has replaced these field pipelines, restarting the production facilities and the equipment commissioning program. As of October 20, 2024, a total of 113.7 million tons of oil and 69.5 billion m³ of gas have been produced at Kashagan since the start of commercial production.
On November 1, 2016, production at Kashagan reached commercial level with production of more than 75 thousand barrels of oil per day. On December 7, 2016, the official presentation of the Kashagan field was held in Atyrau, attended by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Since the re-launch, the Operator has focused on increasing production levels and stabilizing output at a consistent rate.
In Q2 2019, for the first time, the field conducted an Overhaul with full shutdown of production facilities. The work performed during the overhaul included converting two "D" Island wells into injection wells for raw gas injection, installing additional reboilers, stripping, inspection, repairs, vessel maintenance, safety valve servicing, and other tasks to ensure uninterrupted production and increase output from 330,000 to 370,000 barrels per day.
From June to July 2022, a second planned preventive maintenance (PPM) was carried out with a complete shutdown of the Kashagan field production facilities. During the PPM, several projects were implemented to improve integrity and increase production, such as the modernization of gas injection compressors at the offshore complex and the 30-inch amine line project at the onshore complex.
In August 2022, oil production declined due to an incident at the inlet gas separator. Following the completion of remedial work, a record daily production level of 435,000 barrels was achieved.
Due to various operational needs, primarily to ensure personnel evacuation in case of emergency and provide access for marine vessels to Kashagan facilities,dredging in the Caspian Sea at the Contractor Site was carried out between 2021 and 2022.During project implementation, special attention was given to the effectiveness of mitigation measures, including the underwater placement of waste dumps, monitoring of water turbidity, and assessment of impacts on local biota.
In Q3 2023, the work on the project for new water treatment facilities at the IOGTU was completed.The purpose of this major project is to further reduce water intake from the Astrakhan-Mangyshlak pipeline to 70% and improve the quality of water discharged to evaporation ponds.
Work is ongoing on the project to transfer 1 billion m³ of gas per year.This project aims to supply crude produced gas to the gas processing plant of NC “QazaqGaz” JSC, which is under construction, in order to increase oil production up to 450 thousand barrels per day.
The Authorized Body provides full support to the Operator in timely achieving of all set objectives.
In 2023, Kashagan produced 18.8 million tons of oil and 11.9 billion cubic meters of gas. Gas injection into the reservoir amounted to 5.8 billion cubic meters of gas.