Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 37 2022

FSUOGM NEWS IN BRIEF FSUOGM

Kazakhstan suspends owners for discovered onshore and offshore Prosecutor-General's Office of the country
said in a statement on September 13.
fields and prospective new discoveries
production at third largest in the Caspian Sea, Upstream reported, alleged use of state budget funds during
One case relates to Bekmurzaev’s
referencing a government lease auction
oil field notice. last year and this year for personal trips
made by subordinates to the UAE, Turkey,
As many as 107 oil and gas exploration
Kazakhstan’s third largest oil field, blocks are being offered, including two Azerbaijan and Russia, the statement added.
Karachaganak, temporarily suspended gas dozen blocks set to be sold or reallocated The statement also outlined how the
and condensate output earlier this week, only to state-owned oil and gas firms. second case related to the misuse of state
Upstream has reported. Firms have been invited to express their budget funds during the renovation of a spa
Field facilities were said to have been readiness to bid for the remaining 80 oil complex.
closed for annual maintenance with and gas blocks. Oil and gas blocks that Earlier in July, Chairman of the Cabinet
operations set to reopen on October 6. receive interest from potential bidders will of Ministers Akylbek Japarov publicly
Italy’s Eni and UK-based Shell have equal be put up for sale in an online auction of reprimanded Bekmurzaev for general
stakes of around 29.3% in Karachaganak, exploration and production licences. shortcomings in his work, RFE/RL reported.
with smaller stakes held by US-based Bekmurzaev was appointed as energy
Chevron, Russia’s Lukoil and Kazakhstan’s minister in June 2021.
KazMunayGaz. Uzbekistan's SEG steps up
The Kazakh energy ministry includes
condensate, a very light oil, in its use of closed pressure oil Elixir spuds first well
production figures together with heavier
conventional oils. technology at Nomgon IX coal bed
SEG, one of the largest oil and gas methane production
Kazakhstan to adjust oil companies in Uzbekistan, has announced a programme in Mongolia
successful reduction of maintenance costs at
output plan following the country's Kashkadarya and Kruk oil and ASX-listed Elixir Energy said on September
gas fields, via the use of cutting-edge closed
Kashagan outage pressure oil technology. 12 it has spudded its first well in its Nomgon
IX coal bed methane pilot production
According to Tulkin Yusupov, executive
Kazakhstan is looking into adjusting its director of SEG, the deployed oil collection programme in Mongolia.
2022 oil output plan for 85.5mn tonnes due system is used by world leaders in oil “Our pilot production project has been a
to an ongoing outage at the giant Kashagan production. “But in Uzbekistan, we are the key focus for our technical and operational
oilfield, Energy Minister Bulat Akchulakov first company to implement this solution at teams for over a year now given the COVID
said on September 14. two sites, and it yields significant benefits. and other logistical issues surrounding
The field suffered a gas leak detected We stop purchasing raw materials from bringing in equipment from multiple
last month. Akchulakov told reporters the external suppliers, the system reduces the countries. It is therefore great to see
field was likely to return to full capacity in energy costs for the pumps, and - most operations commencing - and our planned
October and added that it was unclear how significantly – there is reduced corrosion of gas flows are hopefully now only a matter
much output would be lost. equipment via the presence of oxygen in the of months away," said company managing
Crude oil output in Kazakhstan, which system,” he said. director Neil Young.
forms part of the OPEC+ production deal, “Our analytics showed the previous Elixir wholly owns the Nomgon IX coal
plunged by 13% m/m in August due to system required two full replacements of bed methane (CBM) production sharing
regular maintenance at one giant oil field pipelines per year. At the Kruk field, 137 contract (PSC).
along with an unplanned halt at another, pipeline failures per year were recorded - an Two pilot wells, Nomgon-8 and
Reuters reported on September 12, citing average of 18 per month. After switching to Nomgon-9, are to be drilled by contractor
two anonymous sources with knowledge of a pumpless system, this will decrease by 2.5 Major Drilling Group to reach a depth of
daily output data and presumably referring times.” around 600 metres each, with the work
to Kashagan. The first system was introduced by SEG expected to take less than 30 days to
Excluding condensate, oil production in June 2021 at its Northern Urtabulak field, complete.
dropped to 1.196mn barrels per day (bpd) also located in the Kashkadarya region. Pilot production testing operations
in August, down from 1.378mn bpd in July. In September 2022, the very latest version will begin within weeks of the wells being
Offshore oil field Kashagan normally pumps of the system has been introduced at the completed. All testing equipment such as
over 300,000 bpd. company’s Kruk field. pumps, casing and generators are already
on site.
Elixir has awarded the tender for an
Kazakhstan to reallocate Kyrgyz energy minister hit additional, more technically advanced rig
to join the current three-rig exploration
or sell over 100 oil and gas with abuse of power charge campaign to Major Drilling to improve
drilling performance.
blocks Kyrgyzstan’s Energy Minister Doskul should start within the next few weeks.
Drilling operations using the new rig
Bekmurzaev has been charged with abuse
Kazakhstan plans to reallocate or sell over of power following allegations uncovered by
100 oil and gas blocks in order to find new two probes into the usage of state funds, the

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