Kazakhstan, Astana, March 4 / Trend, D.Mukhtarov /
Kazakhstan's JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (KMG EP) has established a joint venture with Hungarian MOL for exploration work, Director General of KMG EP Abat Nurseitov told Trend on Monday.
"We have involved a partner in the exploration project North Karpovsky. A 49 per cent share in the project is now owned by the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company MOL," Nurseitov said.
He said the company received a net profit of $8.75 million from the deal.
"It is of no small importance, because it has ensured a division of exploration and investment risks in the future. Exploration is a cost-based process which offers no absolute assurance that the exploration well will give the expected result. Therefore the division of risks and costs for us today is the best option for the development of new projects," Nurseitov said.
He said in 2012, KMG EP reviewed over 10 different projects in Kazakhstan and beyond and a detailed geological-technical and economic evaluation of the most attractive has been carried out.
"It is too early to speak about what exact blocks we are going to acquire, but the financial state of the company gives us a wide selection of assets that we could acquire," he stressed.
According to Nurseitov, currently the KMG EP specialists are studying all oil and gas provinces in the territory of Kazakhstan.
"Because of the insufficient study of many oil and gas regions, at present it is difficult to clearly assess the prospects of these regions. Collection, an overview and analysis of previous work is required. It may be necessary to conduct seismic surveys and following their results to determine the reasonability of exploration drilling from the geological and economic point of view. We have experience in the production of both light and heavy oil, but it will all depend on the technical and economic evaluation of projects," Nurseitov added.
KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil and gas producers. Its overall production in 2011 was 12.3mt (an average of 250 kbopd) of crude oil, including the company's share in Kazgermunai, CCEL and PKI. The total volume of proven and probable reserves as at the end of 2011, was 226mt (1.7bn bbl), including shares in the associates of about 2.1 bn barrels.
The company's shares are listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the GDRs are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company raised over US$2bn in its IPO in September 2006. The international rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) confirmed KMG EP's 'BBB-' corporate credit rating in December 2011.
