According to the Kazakhstan's Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning, the US$50bn Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan could start production in late 2015 at the earliest and is likely to be delayed until 2016. The consortium in charge of the project, the North Caspian Operating Company, the consortium of KazMunaiGaz (KMG, 16.9%), Eni, Shell, Exxon, Total (16.8% each), CNPC (8.3%) and Inpex (7.6%), plans to replace the oil and gas pipelines due to numerous tiny cracks in the pipelines. A full replacement plan for pipelines will be finalised by mid-2014.
The giant oil field, which is expected to produce as much oil as Libya, was initially scheduled to start production in 2005 but was hit by a series of delays and cost overruns. Kashagan oil production was initially expected to reach 180,000 bbl/d and to increase progressively until reaching 370,000 bbl/d in early 2015. It was even expected to exceed 1 mb/d by the end of the decade.