Kashagan油田恢复运营

After years of delays and tens of billions U.S. dollars invested, Kashagan, a giant offshore oil field in the Caspian Sea, has shipped the first batch of oil. The field has been reopened this month after the replacement of offshore pipelines. To remind, Kashagan had started production in September 2013. However, the output had to be stopped weeks later after offshore gas leaks were detected. After several studies into the causes of the leak the operator of the project decided to fully replace the affected offshore pipelines.

Kashagan has been described as one of the largest oil fields discovered in the last 40 years, with estimated reserves of 35 billion barrels of oil in place. The giant oil field, which swallowed a reported sum of more than $53 billion in investments, earning a nickname Cash-All-Gone/Kashagan, is expected to gradually increase up to the first level of 180,000 barrels per day. According to Eni, a partner in the project, Kashagan partners are targeting production of 370,000 barrels per day by the end of 2017.