NCOC eyes increase in Kashagan gas
The North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) is looking to increase sour gas flow from the Kashagan oil project in the Kazakh zone of the Caspian Sea by 2bn m3/year, the group announced on December 14.
NCOC said it had reached an agreement with Kazakhstan's gas transmission operator KazTransGas (KTG) on undertaking front-end engineering design (FEED) work on the Kashagan Phase 2A plan. In addition to extra gas, the project will also raise Kashagan's oil output by around 50,000 barrels/day.
Kashagan was brought on stream in late 2016 after years of delays and cost overruns. The field has a first-phase oil production capacity of 370,000 barrels/day, although its actual flow rate has been volatile due to complex reservoir characteristics.
The 2A plan will involve installing a sour gas pipeline from the Kashagan offshore complex to the Bolashak onshore processing facility and a second from there to a 1bn m3/yr sour gas treatment plant. NCOC also said there would be minor modifications to existing onshore and offshore facilities.
A 2bn m3/yr gas treatment plant will also be added next to the 1bn m3/yr existing one. Kazakh contractor GPC Investment broke ground on that facility earlier this year.
"It is a great milestone towards the further development of Kashagan field resources: the final decision Kashagan Phase 2A will be defined based on the FEED results, which will be conducted under the signed agreement," NCOC's managing director Olivier Lazare said.
Kazakhstan is looking to expand the role of gas in power and heating to phase out coal and petroleum fuels. But the use of gas to boost pressure at oil reservoirs and export commitments to China limit how much supply there is available.
The government is working on a nationwide gasification programme to bring gas to more settlements. As part of this initiative it completed a pipeline to the capital Astana in 2019.