The Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan) lies in northern Central Asia and is bordered by the Russian Federation (Russia) to the north, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the south, and the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the west.
Kazakhstan’s land area is 2 717 300 square kilometres (km2) with almost 1 894 km of coastline on the Caspian Sea. The capital is Nur-Sultan (previously called Astana) and the country is home to 18.7 million people (www.stat.gov.kz).
Map of Kazakhstan
Oil reserves overview
Kazakhstan has an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil reserves. With 172 oilfields, Kazakhstan possesses 3% of global oil reserves, putting it among the world’s top 15 countries in terms of oil reserves.
The main reserves are in five largest onshore oil fields which include Tengiz, the largest oil producing field with 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil, Karachaganak, Aktobe, Mangistau, and Uzen, all of which are located in the western part of the country. These hold half of current proven reserves.
The offshore fields of Kashagan and Kurmangazy in the Caspian Sea are estimated to hold minimum 14 million barrels. With 9 – 11 billion barrels, Kashagan is the largest oil field outside of the Middle East.
Natural Gas overview
Kazakhstan also has significant natural gas potential. Its proven gas reserves stand at 3 trillion cubic meters and projected reserves at 5 trillion cubic meters. The country also expects significant production of oil- associated gas that will bring 1,000 cubic meters of gas for every new ton of oil (100 million tons of new oil will lead to 100 billion cubic meters of gas).
Natural gas production is utilized for well re-injection, exports and to meet domestic consumption (liquefaction and development of internal gas pipeline infrastructure). The country’s gas output – which is mostly associated gas – is forecast to continue an upward trend, reaching 29.6bcm in 2027.
Majority of natural gas reserves are located in the west of Kazakhstan and concentrated in four fields – Karachaganak (46 percent), Tengiz (12 percent), Imashevskoye (7 percent) and Kashagan (12 percent).
Kashagan Offshore Oil Field Project
Two Major Projects in Kazakhstan in the last decade
Kashagan is Kazakhstan’s first offshore oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea and is the largest international investment project in the country. Discovered in July 2000, Kashagan was described as the largest field found in the past 30 years, the largest outside of the Middle East, with a projected output close to that of the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia.
Kashagan is being developed by North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC). NCOC shareholders are KMG Kashagan B.V. (16.9 percent), Shell Kazakhstan Development B.V. (16.8 percent), Total E&P Kazakhstan (16.8 percent), Agip Caspian Sea B.V. (16.8 percent), ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Inc. (16.8 percent), CNPC Kazakhstan B.V. (8.3 percent) and Inpex North Caspian Sea Ltd. (7.6 percent).
Kashagan, the fifth-largest reserve in the world, is expected to play a major role in Kazakhstan’s future oil production, with projected production of 450 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) by 2025 and 955 kb/d by 2040.
The project suffered several delays and costs increased from $57bn to $187bn.