Kashagan production ramping up: Operator

Crude production at Kazakhstan's giant offshore Kashagan field is ramping up, the NCOC operating consortium said today. Output was suspended after a gas leak on August 3.

"We are announcing a gradual resumption of production on the night of August 9-10," NCOC said.

The field was shut after signs of a gas leak closed the Bolashak oil and gas treatment unit. The leak may have been caused by corrosion of pipelines or equipment, market participants said.

Oil production at Kashagan was 7.26mn t (317,000 b/d) in the first six months of the year, 2pc lower than in the same period in 2021. All of Kashagan's output is sent to market through the CPC pipeline, loading as light sour CPC Blend at the Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka terminal on Russia's Black Sea coast. CPC reported a "significant decrease" in pipeline shipments on 3 August because of the Kashagan shutdown and planned maintenance at Kazakhstan's Chevron-led 9bn bl Tengiz development.

The shipment schedule of CPC Blend in August provides for the delivery of 5.03mn t, compared to 5.11mn t scheduled for July.

NCOC is run by Kazakh state-owned Kazmunaigaz, Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Italy's Eni, China's state-owned CNPC and Japanese upstream firm Inpex.

By Daniyar Mussayev