27 April 2021 15:34 GMT Updated 27 April 2021 15:34 GMT in Moscow
Kazakhstan President Kasym-Zhomat Tokayev has given the government s full backing to the Kashagan offshore oil and gas development despite a row with fishing interests and environmentalists over plans to dredge navigational channels to access the projects artificial islands.
ENERGY EXPLORED: SUBSCRIBE TO ACCELERATE
Gain valuable insight into the global oil and gas industry s energy transition from
Speaking at the end of the last week at an online meeting to discuss future developments in the country s Atyrau region, Tokayev said “it is important to complete [Kashagan] capacity expansion projects and achieve the full development” of reserves at the large field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea.
According to reports in Aktyubinsk, local authorities are short on funds to liquidate abandoned wells.
The second-largest deposit on offer is Zhanatan, also in the Aktyubinsk region.
Zhanatan covers about 391 square kilometres and has an initial price of about 83 million tenge.
Three other oilfields that have been offered Biikzhal, South Kaskyrbulak and Pribrezhnoye are significantly smaller and are located in the Atyrau region.
Several blocks require additional exploration efforts to confirm the presence of hydrocarbons, the largest being Aralsky 4, which covers more than 3300 square kilometres in the dried seabed of the Aral Sea in the Aktyubinsk and Kyzylordinskaya regions.
Another large block, Aschibulak, also lies in the Aktyubinsk region. However, a small part of the block has been excluded as it hosts the Zhaksymay oilfield, which is being explored by KazInRuss Trading.