Oil production at Kashagan reaches 60 thousand barrels per day

Oil production at Kashagan has reached 60 thousand barrels per day, Tengrinews reports citing the chairman of KazMunaiGas Sauat Mynbayev as saying at the 8th KAZENERGY forum. “Significant investments are made in the oil and gas sector of our country and large-scale production projects are launched. Kashagan is one of such projects. The first oil has been produced. The production rate has already reached around 60 thousand barrels per day. Kazakhstan and its partners have been waiting for this for over 10 years,” Sauat Mynbayev said. Head of KazMunaiGas said that most of the oil and gas produced in the world - 60-65 percent - comes from Eurasia. That’s why this continent largely defines the dynamics in the global scale. “Thus, the processes happening in Eurasia will form the long-term scenarios in the global energy,” he said. According to him, the growth of energy consumption is already ensured by non-OECD countries, first of all, by China and India. “For example, the international energy agency expects growth of crude oil demand from 87 million barrels per day in 2011 to almost 100 million barrels in 2035. According to our calculations, the demand may reach 100-120 million barrels much earlier. A very limited number of countries will be able to actively increase production of oil and gas,” Sauat Mynbayev said. He also noted the global trend of increasing costs for geological exploration. “Kazakhstan intends to enhance its positions at the energy market to meet the forecasted growth of demand,” he added. Earlier Kashagan was expected to produce 75 thousand barrels per day in October, but in September the production rate did not go up 48 thousand barrels per day. According to Kazakhstan Oil and Gas Ministry, the production at Kashagan will make eight million tons per year in 2014. By Baubek Konyrov