Decision on resumption of production on Kashagan field to be made after January 15, 2014

The decision to resume production on the Kazakhstani Kashagan field will be made after January 15, 2014 when the results of examination of reasons of the leakage are available, Malik Salimgereyev, Managing Director Samruk-Kazyna, told journalists yesterday at a briefing in Astana.

He said as soon as leakage was detected on the main pipeline coming from the field, the operation wells have been suspended. The works to eliminate the leakage have started. The ground works on the ground section of the gas pipeline have been completed, but the works to study the pipeline joints’ impermeability continue.

Managing Director said the pipes have been cleaned from the inside by the polymer scraper. The magnetic-particle and ultrasound flaw detection works continue on some sections of the pipeline.

“Six check-ups have proved absence of signs of leakage. The Welding Institute in Cambridge, UK, continues study of the pipe joints to detect the reasons of leakage. The preliminary reports about the results of diagnostic of the pipeline by the scraper and examination by the Institute are expected to be available by mid-January 2014,” Salimgereyev said.

* Kashagan is a big oil and gas field in Kazakhstan located on the north of the Caspian Sea. The geological resources of the field are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil. Total oil resources reach 38 billion barrels or 6 billion tons, of which about 10 billion barrels are extractible ones. The field contains huge natural gas resources – over 1 trillion   cub.m.—0—