Kazakhstan invites Shell to invest in Caspian exploration

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan’s Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Minister Magzum Mirzagaliev met on 23 January with Shell Kazakhstan Country Chair Olivier Lazare and invited the Royal Dutch company to consider the possibility of investing in geological exploration in the Caspian basin.
“I met with the head of Shell Kazakhstan Olivier Lazare. I invited Shell to actively cooperate,” Mirzagaliyev wrote on his Twitter page. “We agreed to consider the possibilities of investing in geological exploration in the Caspian basin and poorly studied basins, including the ‘Eurasia’ project,” the minister added.
According to him, the parties decided to create a joint working group.
Initially, the interested companies included: KMG-Eurasia LLP, Russia’s Rosneft, Azerbaijan’s SOCAR, NEOS Geosolutions, China’s CNPC and Italy’s Agip Caspian Sea, however, a year later Rostneft and NEOS Geosolutions left the group and were replaced by Shell.
According to the Eurasia project, it is planned to conduct research and drilling at a depth of 15 kilometres in the Caspian basin. The estimated cost of the project is $500 million and is expected to be implemented in 2020.
In October 2013, Kazakhstan presented the Eurasia project to study the Caspian territory for the discovery of new deposits. According to geologists, in the central part of the Caspian depression there can be six to seven subsalt structures with recoverable reserves of more than 200 million tonnes of oil and a cost of more than $20 per barrel.
According to Kazakh experts, Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon reserves can double by the results of the Eurasia project, which provides for the exploration of deep-lying horizons of the Caspian Basin.
In total, about 200 oil and gas fields are located in Kazakhstan, the total reserves of which are estimated at 11-12 billion tonnes. Almost 70% of these resources are concentrated in the western regions of Kazakhstan, the main oil veins are Kashagan, Karachaganak and Tengiz.