Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 2
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
It is planned to carry out additional exploration work on the "Kurmangazy" oil field in the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan, Kazakh energy ministry told Trend.
"Next year it is planned to monitor the abandoned wells and make up the project of additional exploration work on the field," the ministry said.
In 2015, a monitoring of the abandoned wells was carried out on the "Kurmangazy" field. No production activities, including drilling and seismic surveys on the field were conducted in 2015.
The field is developed on the basis of PSA (production sharing agreement) contract between "KazMunayTeniz" and "Rosneft". In 2006 and 2009, two exploration wells were drilled on "Kurmangazy", they didn't reveal any signs of oil, despite the fact that the preliminary forecasts regarding the field were promising and were estimated at one billion tons of recoverable reserves. After that, it was proposed to close the project.
The ministry said that the decision to close the project at the level of the governments of Kazakhstan and Russia was not accepted, and the contract remains in force. It was decided to resume exploration work at an intergovernmental commission meeting in 2014.
Forecasted reserves of the field are estimated at 2.8 billion tons of equivalent fuel, they are located in deep-seated Paleozoic sediments, and the exploration work is associated with high risks, according to the ministry of energy of Kazakhstan.
