Razorback, hello.
The hits just keep on comin':
slb.com
I'm convinced that this is going to be a major discovery, largely because of this continued posturing on the part of all the players.
I've been hearing about this play since the geologists started waving their arms about it back in the early mid-90's
Regards to all,
Aggie
This update from our New York editors 20:54 GMT
Kazakh Oil Output May Rival Saudi by 2015
ALMATY, April 27 (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev vowed on Thursday that his Central Asian state would aim to produce as much oil as Saudi Arabia by 2015, hinting that a mammoth Caspian drilling project was likely to bear fruit.
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"We think that by 2015 we shall be producing 400 million tonnes of oil a year (eight million barrels a day), or about the same as Saudi Arabia," Nazarbayev told delegates at a World Economic Forum summit in commercial capital Almaty.
The forecast looks optimistic given current Kazakh output of just under 600,000 barrels daily. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest petroleum exporter.
Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan would boost output in the coming years by exploiting untapped reserves on its Caspian shelf.
He said that evidence pointed to good news from Kashagan, an offshore site, being drilled by an international consortium, OKIOC, which includes some of the world's largest oil firms.
The project is believed to be one of the largest untapped structures of its kind in the world and initial seismic tests indicated hydrocarbon reserves of about four billion tonnes. OKIOC says first results will be available only after June.
Nazarbayev's statement came hours afer the head of state-owned Kazakhoil Nurlan Balgimbayev said that he had "positive" news from the Caspian. He did not elaborate.
An oil find at Kashagan could rocket Kazakhstan into the big league of global energy players and breathe fresh life into a series of pipeline projects to export the region's hitherto landlocked energy reserves.
The first project, by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, from Kazakhstan to Russia's port of Novorossiisk, will come on line in 2001 but the fate of a U.S. backed link from Baku to Ceyhan in Turkey is uncertain as it needs Kazakh volumes to be viable.
Nazarbayev said his country's commitment to the Baku-Ceyhan project remained unchanged, despite recent statements by energy officials that the pipeline to Novorossiisk would be sufficient for Kazakhstan's export needs.
"The CPC will be complete in 2001 and for the next 10 years we shall concentrate on that," he said. "But if we really raise oil production to expected levels, not only Baku-Ceyhan but several other pipelines could be needed."
Kazakhstan's estimated offshore reserves at present are 13 billion tonnes of oil and five trillion cubic metres of gas. |
