Officials address Kashagan field delays

Astana has hosted the Third Eurasian Energy Forum Global Challenges and Energy Solutions sponsored by the Association of Oil Producing Companies of Kazakhstan KazEnergy. The main news discussed in the lobbies of the forum was possible further production delay at Kazakhstan’s giant oil field Kashagan. The Kazakh President’s advisor for the Caspian Region and the former head of Kazakhoil and the former prime minister, Nurlan Balgimbaev, believed that a likely time for the first Kashagan oil would be 2014, considering that “it is a technically and geologically complex project.”
Last summer, the Kazakh government and Agip KCO signed a memorandum setting 2013 as a final date for the first production at Kashagan. And that was already the fourth postponement. Originally, the first oil from Kashagan had been scheduled for 2005. Then it was postponed to 2008, then to 2010- 2012, and now to 2013, which does not sound like it is the final date either. In response to the same question in the lobbies of the forum, KazEnergy President Timur Kulibaev gave the date of 2014. Later, at a press-conference, he clarified that he used the new date as a precaution in the case of any force-majeure.
“The memorandum has November 2013 as the production date. But it will already be winter, making the production difficult, that is why I used 2014. Not only the field should be ready, but also the surface facilities, to receive the oil,” Kulibaev explained. However, informally, the majority of the oilmen, both local and foreign, tend to think that 2015 might be a more realistic date.