Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 15 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

NCOC plans Kashagan dredging

KAZAKHSTAN THE North Caspian Operating Co. (NCOC) field consists of facilities positioned on artificial
developing Kazakhstan’s giant offshore Kasha- island, connected via pipelines to processing
Water levels in the gan gas field has said they will need to dredge units onshore. It flowed roughly 300,000 barrels
Caspian have been navigational channels following a drop in Cas- per day (bpd) of crude last year, though its out-
faling for over two pian water levels. The project, already approved put is highly volatile because of the complexity
decade by Kazakh authorities, has prompted some envi- of its reservoirs.
ronmental concerns about the impact on the sea- Two more development stages at Kashagan
bed and marine life. are under discussion that would ramp up pro-
Water levels in the Caspian have been falling duction to an eventual 1.1mn bpd. NCOC’s
for over two decades. In a statement on April 7, members include Italy’s Eni, US major Exx-
NCOC said this had limited the use of sea vessels onMobil, China’s CNPC, Royal Dutch Shell,
at the Kashagan oilfield. France’s Total, Japan’s Inpex and Kazakhstan’s
“It is posing a threat towards the safe oper- state-owned KazMunayGas (KMG).
ation of offshore production facilities that may
lead to the complete shutdown of one of the Karazhanbas
largest fields in Kazakhstan,” NCOC said. The In other news from the Central Asian state, KMG
marine access channels are “the only feasible and its Chinese partner CITIC have reported a
one of all short-term alternatives considered. bump in the resource estimate for the mature
Its implementation will ensure safe evacuation Karazhanbas oilfield in Kazakhstan.
of personnel in the event of emergencies, con- The pair’s 50:50 joint venture Karazhanbas-
tinuous operation of the offshore facilities and munai reported last week that an exploration
offshore preventive maintenance in 2022,” it said. well drilled into an undeveloped formation at
Dredging will take place in a 29-square km the field had flowed oil at a rate of 44 bpd. This
area, using the best available technologies. It formation is now assessed to hold 39mn barrels
noted that baseline environmental studies had of oil.
been carried out and that public hearings on the Karazhanbas was discovered in 1974, when
plan had been held last year. Soviet engineers identified oil and gas-bearing
NCOC did not say how much the operation structures within Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic
would cost. But it said the channels would meas- layers. The field is shallow, less than 460 metres
ure a total length of 56 km, with depths of over 5 in depth, and contains heavy crude. It was pro-
metres and widths of between 80 and 115 metres. ducing around 40,000 bpd of oil prior to the
Some 18.5mn cubic metres of soil is expected to pandemic.
be lifted. The field is now mature and its geological
Kashagan finally began commercial pro- structures are challenging. It hosts nearly 1,900
duction in late 2016 after years of cost overruns, wells with very low flow rates, some of which are
delays and operational setbacks. The challenging many decades old. ™

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