Oil and Gas of Kazakhstan

Today Kazakhstan has rich reserves of hydrocarbon raw materials. According to the latest assessments, the total reserves of oil and gas in Kazakhstan are about 23 billion tonnes. 13 billion of them are accumulated in the Caspian shelf. Kazakhstan is the second largest oil producer among ex-Soviet republics after the Russian Federation. Almost half of Kazakh oil production comes from three large fields: Tengiz, Uzen, and Karachaganak.

There are many reasons to suppose that production of crude oil and gas condensate will rise from year to year with the development of new oil fields in our country. Most of the growth will be due to Tengiz, Karachaganak, and some new fields coming on stream: North Buzachi, Sazankurak, Saztobe, Airankol, and others. In addition, preliminary drilling in the offshore Kashagan block by Agip KCO has turned up spectacular results, with analysts estimating possible oil reserves of up to 40 billion barrels.

The oil analysts think that the field is the largest discovery of oil in the last 30 years, bringing fresh optimism to the Caspian Sea region’s oil supply potential.

Oil and gas reserves are concentrated not only in the Western part of Kazakhstan. One of the largest oilfields is Kumkol, located in Kyzylorda oblast, Southern part of Kazakhstan. It is operated by PetroKazakhstan company. (former “Hurricane”) and its joint venture partners. PetroKazakhstan is engaged in exploration, development and production of Kumkol oil and gas, refining of oil in Shymkent refinery and the sale of oil and refined products. PetroKazakhstan is well known as a producer of high quality sweet light crude sold into both the export and domestic markets.

Kazakhstan’s extensive oil and gas reserves, together with comparatively low risk of political instability, have already made it the largest recipient of foreign investments among the CIS countries. Besides, the geographical position of Kazakhstan in the center of the continent gives access to the large export markets of Europe and China. As to the level of oil production, Kazakhstan occupies 26th place in the world. The largest importers of Kazakhstan crude and refined oil and gas are Russia, Great Britain, Ukraine, Switzerland and Italy.

Russia and the countries of the Persian Gulf region, rich in hydrocarbon raw materials, are strong competitors for Kazakhstan in the global oil and gas market. Moreover, difficulties with the delivery of Kazakhstan oil to the main distribution markets together with the country’s underdeveloped oil and gas processing infrastructure and facilities, bind the development of our oil production to the existing systems of pipelines, ports and terminals.

Thus, the petroleum industry became the main source of long-term economic growth of our country.

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