The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan has announced that production had resumed at the giant Kashagan giant oil and gas field, with four wells already producing 90,000 bbl/d of crude oil. Commercial flows of oil are expected by the end of October 2016. The operating consortium now expects production to reach 230,000 bbl/d by the end of 2016 and up to 370,000 bbl/d by mid-2017.
The Kashagan oil field is developed by the North Caspian Operating Company consortium (NCOC), a joint venture of KazMunaiGas (KMG, 16.87%), Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total (16.8% each), CNPC (8.33%) and Inpex (7.6%). The field is estimated to hold up to 38 Gbl of oil resources, including 13 Gbl of recoverable crude oil, and 1,000 bcm of gas.
The field's development has been marred by significant delays: oil production started in September 2013, around 8 eights behind schedule, but was stopped a few weeks later after gas leaks were detected in the pipelines, that had to be replaced. This translated into a dramatic cost escalation, from the initial US$38bn to at least US$53bn (up to US$100bn according to some estimates).