Kashagan oil may be partially supplied to China

Oil produced at Kashagan may be partially supplied to China, Tengrinews reports citing Kazakhstan Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin as saying. “Every participant of the consortium has a right to sell oil individually and, thus, the route, destination and prices depend on the participants of the consortium working in Kashagan. The Chinese direction is one of the good directions, as currently the capacities of the CPC (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) are insufficient to serve everyone who wants to transport to Novossibirsk. Meanwhile, we are increasing the capacities for transportation to China’s large market and if the Chinese partners offer the prices similar to Novossibirsk, I think that the consortium’s members will be willing to sell part of the oil to China,” Karabalin said at the press-conference during the 8th KAZENERGY Eurasian Forum. “As for the volumes of the supplies to China, we cannot speak for the consortium members that will be selling their part of the oil, but there is an opportunity and Kazakhstan will support this direction as an option for the consortium members,” he continued. The journalists asked the Minister whether the talks about lowering Chinese share in Kazakhstan’s production from the current 28 percent to 7-8 percent in the nearest decade were correct. “I agree with that. The thing is that despite China’s current involvement in Kashagan (and this is a serious share and serious production volume in future), other fields where CNPC currently works are already passing the peak of production and there will be a gradual decrease. That’s why the calculations are based on what is available in the portfolio of Chinese national companies,” the Minister said. By Renat Tashkinbayev