Minister: Commercial oil production at Kashagan field will begin in Kazakhstan in October

Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 18 / Trend D. Mukhtarov / The commercial oil production at Kashagan field will begin in Kazakhstan in October, Kazakh Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin said at a press conference in the central communications office on Wednesday. Karabalin reminded that the commercial oil production at the field is possible in case of extracting at least 75,000 barrels per day. At present, around 40,000 barrels of oil are extracted at the Kashagan field per day. Around 8 million tons of oil are planned to be extracted in Kazakhstan in 2014. The Minister also said that the equipment is being adjusted at the field. Kashagan is a large oil and gas field in Kazakhstan located in the north of the Caspian Sea. Its geological reserves are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil. The total oil reserves amount to 38 billion barrels, some 10 billion out of them are recoverable reserves. There are large natural gas reserves at the Kashagan field - over one trillion cubic meters. Trial oil production at Kashagan field began on September 11. Earlier, the beginning of the field development has been postponed several times since 2005. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az