Kashagan oil field’s onshore processing plant in Kazakhstan ships first batch of crude oil

Italian oil and gas company Eni has announced that the first batch of export crude oil was shipped from the giant Kashagan oil field’s onshore processing plant.

The oil field recently began its production again after the successful pipeline replacement.

The production at the oil field would be increased gradually to the first level to reach 180,000 barrels per day.

By the end of 2017, it is expected to achieve the target production level of 370,000 barrels in a day.

The Kashagan oilfield is situated in the North Caspian Sea, nearly 80km south-east of Atyrau, of Kazakhstan.

It is one of the largest oil fields discovered in the last 40 years, holding an estimated reserve up to 35 billion barrels of crude oil.

Due to its vast size, environmental and logistical features, Kashagan is referred as one of the most complicated and challenging industrial projects globally.

Kashagan is developed by a consortium of seven companies represented by operator NCOC (North Caspian Operating Company) that operates according to the North Caspian sea production sharing agreement (NCSPSA).

Eni has a 16.81% stake in this consortium.

The other partners in the consortium are KazMunayGas (16.88%), ExxonMobil (16.81%), Shell (16.81%), Total (16.81%), CNPC (8.33%) and Inpex (7.56%).