ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 26. Kazakhstan's KazMunayGas (KMG, the national oil and gas company) plans to drill three new exploration wells in 2024, said Chairman of the Board of KMG Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Trend reports.
He made the remark during a speech at an international scientific and practical conference dedicated to the oil and gas future of the Mangystau region.
"KMG pays special attention to the strategic goal of developing the resource base. In order to accelerate the growth of reserves, we have formed a diversified portfolio of projects for implementation as part of exploration and additional exploration of hydrocarbons. Firstly, among the immediate plans for existing exploration projects, offshore drilling of an exploratory well in the Abay block with a depth of 2,500 meters should be noted. The company also plans to begin drilling two more deep wells in 2024," he said.
According to him, based on the results of regional studies, KMG estimates the undiscovered hydrocarbon potential at 18 billion tons of oil equivalent, where the main prospects are associated with deeper and more technically complex projects.
"As part of the study of deep-lying sediments, this year KMG plans to begin drilling two deep wells of 5.5 km each at the Karaton-Podsolevoy and Turgai Paleozoic projects in the Atyrau and Kyzylorda regions," Mirzagaliyev said.
As previously stated by the Vice Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, Askhat Khassenov, Kazakhstan plans to drill about 80 oil wells in 2024.
"The reforms carried out in 2022 and 2023 in the field of subsoil use are having an effect. In 2024, it is planned to drill about 80 wells. Of these, we focus on deep wells. Because the era of easy oil, unfortunately, is coming to an end. Today, oil and gas deposits are very deep. Therefore, we need to drill, and this is capital-intensive," he noted.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan produced 90 million tons of oil in 2023, which is 6.9 percent higher than in 2022. Oil exports also increased and amounted to 70.5 million tons, which is 9.6 percent more than the previous year.
Moreover, Kazakhstan plans to increase oil production in 2024 to 90.3 million tons.
