Archive for January 10th, 2008
EIA Kazakhstan Electricity
Kazakhstan has 71 power plants, including five hydroelectric power stations, giving the country an overall installed generating capacity of 17 gigawatts (GW), 80 percent of which are coal fired, and 12 percent of which are hydroelectric. Almost 85 percent of the country’s power generation comes from coal-fired plants located in the northern coal producing regions. Kazakhstan’s hydroelectric facilities are located primarily along the Irtysh river, which flows from China across northeast Kazakhstan.
EIA Kazakhstan Coal
EIA Kazakhstan Natural Gas
Kazakhstan produces about as much natural gas as it consumes, and following maintenance at Tengiz and Karachaganak in the last couple years, the country is poised to become a net exporter in 2008. The Kazakhstan Energy Ministry estimated that production during 2007 totaled 1,037 billion cubic feet (Bcf), over 70 percent of which was produced by international consortia at the Tengiz and Karachaganak fields. Gas production increased by over 8 percent from the previous year.
In 2007, the Oil and Gas Journal revised upwards its estimate of proved natural gas reserves in Kazakhstan to 100 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), putting the country on par with Turkmenistan. Most of Kazakhstan’s natural gas reserves are located in the west of the country, with roughly 25 percent of proven reserves situated in the Karachaganak field. This oil and gas condensate field reportedly has proven natural gas reserves of 48 Tcf. The consortium developing Karachaganak expects to produce 900 Bcf by 2012.
EIA Kazakhstan Oil
Kazakhstan sits near the northeast portion of the Caspian Sea and claims most of the Sea’s biggest known oil fields. Kazakhstan’s combined onshore and offshore proven hydrocarbon reserves have been estimated between 9 and 40 billion barrels (comparable to OPEC members Algeria on the low end and Libya on the high end).
Kazakhstan produced approximately 1.45 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil in 2007 and consumed 250,000 bbl/d, resulting in petroleum net exports of around 1.2 million bbl/d. EIA expects oil production in Kazakhstan to average 1.54 and 1.71 million bbl/d in 2008 and 2009, respectively (See Table 3b of EIA’s Short Term Energy Outlook for updated estimates). Major producers include Karachaganak (250,000 bbl/d), Tengiz (280,000 bbl/d), CNPC-Aktobemunaigas (120,000 bbl/d), Uzenmunaigas (135,000 bbl/d), Mangistaumunaigas (115,000 bbl/d), and Kumkol (70,000 bbl/d). These producers account for 1 million bbl/d (or around 70 percent) of liquids production in the country. Other production is centered in smaller fields.
EIA Kazakhstan Energy Background
Kazakhstan has the Caspian Sea region’s largest recoverable crude oil reserves, and its production accounts for over half of the roughly 2.8 million barrels per day (bbl/d) currently being produced in the region (including regional oil producers Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan). Kazakhstan oil exports are the foundation of the country’s economy and have ensured that average real GDP growth has stayed above 9 percent for the last 6 years. Real GDP growth during 2007 averaged 9.5 percent.
Kazakhstan’s growing petroleum industry accounts for roughly 30 percent of the country’s GDP and over half of its export revenues. In an effort to reduce Kazakhstan’s exposure to price fluctuations for energy and commodities exports, the government created the National Oil Fund of Kazakhstan. Due to high oil prices the international reserves and assets in the oil fund have doubled in the last year to $20 billion in October 2007.
News Roundup - January 10, 2008
Wall Street Journal: Oil companies, Kazakh government postpone meeting on Kashagan field
What was supposed to be a decisive meeting scheduled for Jan. 11 to resolve the long-running dispute between the government of Kazakhstan and a consortium of foreign oil companies developing the massive Kashagan field has been postponed, according to people close to the negotiations…
CNN Money: Kazakhstan files tax claim vs Kashagan operator Agip - report
The Kazakh government has filed a tax claim against Eni SpA-led (E) Agip KCO, the operator of the giant Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea, Deputy Finance Minister Daulet Yergozhin was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying Wednesday…
TREND: Kazakhstan makes tax claims against Agip KCO consortium
The Government of Kazakhstan notified Agip KCO Consortium, who is involved in the development of the large-scale oil field ‘Kashagan’, of the need to make tax payments, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Finance Ministry, Daulet Ergojin, reported to a TrendCapital special correspondent…
Reuters: Kashagan meeting slips to Jan 13 or later - source
A key meeting between the Kazakh authorities and heads of international oil majors developing the Kashagan oil field is postponed until January 13 or later, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday…
Hemscott: RPT Kazakh state to double Kashagan stake; Eni to pay govt 3.5 bln usd - report
The Eni SpA-led consortium developing the Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea will pay 3.5 bln usd in compensation to the Kazakh government to settle their dispute over cost overruns and delays to the project, daily MF reported…
The Oil and the Glory: Report: What the Kashagan deal may look like
Milano Finanza, the daily in the home city of Italy’s Eni, is reporting the skeleton of a final settlement of the Kashagan dispute that includes a surprising sweetener for holdout Exxon…
The Oil and the Glory: Pickering is Out; What about Zbig?
Thomas Pickering, the senior U.S. statesman who was to lead the high-level U.S. pipeline campaign on the Caspian, has withdrawn for unspecified reasons. So the State Department has resumed its search for a supergiant diplomat to turn around the so-far struggling Western effort to blunt Russia’s dominance of the European natural gas market…
Gazeta.KZ: Kazakhstan gold and currency reserves grew up in 2007 by 16%
International reserves of Kazakhstan (in current prices) in 2007 grew up by 15,7%, reports the agency with reference to the National bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan…
Reuters: Parker Drilling says unit paid $26 mln tax to Kazakhstan
Oil and gas driller Parker Drilling Co said a subsidiary paid $26 million in income taxes to Kazakhstan in December 2007 and will receive a foreign tax credit for this payment…
Forbes: Vicat takes 60 pct in Kazakh cement factory project
Vicat Group said it has acquired a 60 pct stake in a company which is developing a cement factory in Mynaral, Kazakhstan…
Interfax: Kazakh govt to curb inflation at 10% in 2008 - PM
Kazakhstan’s government intends to curb inflation at 10% in 2008, Prime Minister Karim Masimov said during a government conference call in Tuesday…
Interfax: Kazakhstan ratifies military transit agreement with Germany
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has signed a law on the ratification of an intergovernmental agreement with Germany on the transit of military cargoes and personnel across Kazakhstan, the presidential press service has reported…
Interfax: UFO allegedly splashed down in Kazakhstan
An unidentified flying object might have fallen in the Belaya river in the May district in the Pavlodar region, northern Kazakhstan, a source with the regional emergency situations department told Interfax referring to an eye-witness…
Neweurasia.net: Invasion Starts Here?
Mantrovkz posts a news report by Interfax in his blog [ru], where it is said about possible landing of UFO in the [northern] Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan…
Agrimarket: Kazakhstan: wheat export totaled 937.000 tonnes in December
According to the preliminary data, the wheat export in December totaled 937.000 tonnes, exceeding the level of the last season by 192.700 tonnes for the first in this month (745.000 tonnes were exported in December 2006). The flour export totaled 125.600 tonnes (138.600 tonnes in December 2006)…
