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India might become the developer of Kazakhstan’s Abai oil block, Tegnrinews reports.
Abai is an offshore block in Kazakhstan's section of the Caspian Sea. The field's reserves are estimated at 387 million tons (2.8 billion barrels) of oil equivalent. The offshore oilfield is located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea 65km from the shore at the depth of 8-10 meters.
Initially Abai block was developed by Norwegian Statoil together with Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas, but Statoil left the project in early 2013.
At the 11th India-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Commission meeting that took place on April 25, Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Oil and Gas Magzum Mirzagaliev met with his Indian counterpart Saurabh Chandra, Vice-Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gases.
“Hydrocarbons is one of the key areas of our cooperation. Kazakhstan has oil and gas, while India has the market. Our companies have ample experience in production and exploration in this sector. ONGC Videsh company owns a 25% share in Satpayev oil block. Exploration of the block will be made. We plan to finish it by March of 2015. Kazakhstan has offered us Abai oil block and our company will study all the available information concerning the block and notify the government of Kazakhstan of its decision,” Saurabh Chandra said.
Satpayev oil block is an offshore field in the Northern Caspian sea. Its potential reserves are estimated at 1.8 bilion barrels. First oil from the field in expected in 2020.
“ONGC Videsh and KazMunaiGas are jointly working on the Satpayev project. The first well will be drilled in 2015 at this block,” Mirzagaliev said.
Both Vice-Ministers agreed to consider broadening the cooperation in production and development of oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan. India expressed readiness to participate in the projects both as a sole developer and as a consortium partner.
According to Magzum Mirzagaliev, goods turnover between Kazakhstan and India amounts to $670 million, and both countries were interested in increasing it further.
ONGC Videsh is India's largest oil production company. In 2013, ONGC Videsh became India's second largest publicly traded company.
Reporting by Baubek Konyrov, writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina
