Total approves Dunga Field Phase 3 launch in Kazakhstan

French energy firm Total and its partners have approved the launch of Phase 3 development of the onshore Dunga field in the Mangystau region of western Kazakhstan.

The Total-operated Phase 3 will include additional wells to the existing infrastructure and processing plant upgrades to increase its capacity by 10% to 20,000boe/d by 2022.

This is set to add production of approximately 70 million barrels of reserves.

According to the company, the project requires a $300m investment and is expected to create 400 more direct jobs in the region during the construction period.

Total Exploration and Production president Arnaud Breuillac said: “This low-investment-cost-per-barrel development maximises the field’s potential and extends plateau production.

“This new development phase, combined with the Dunga field licence extension, helps unlock 70 million barrels of additional reserves, which represents a significant development for Kazakhstan.”

The development comes after the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved a 15-year extension of the production-sharing agreement for the Dunga field.

The agreement was originally signed in 1994 and is due to expire in 2024.

In June, Total deployed its new Pangea III supercomputer, which has increased its computing power to 31.7 petaflops, the equivalent of 170,000 laptops combined. It also signed a deal with Toshiba last month to acquire the latter’s portfolio of liquefied natural gas (LNG) business.

The company signed an agreement with the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in April to proceed with the development of a $13bn Papua liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

With a presence in more than 130 countries, Total has an overall portfolio of 40 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) by 2020 and a global market share of 10%.

The company sold 21.8Mt of LNG last year.