Karachaganak third-phase plans to be decided this year - BG

energy

Karachaganak third-phase plans to be decided this year - BG

By SRI ⋅ June 18, 2009 ⋅

(SRI) - BG Group Plc, the British oil and gas company, said on Wednesday it hoped to reach a decision on the design of a delayed expansion of its Karachaganak project in Kazakhstan by the end of the year, Reuters reported.

“We are working very closely with the government and our partners to finalize the development concept for the next phase of Karachaganak expansion before the year end,” Peter Dranfield, President of BG’s Kazakh unit said at the Kazakhstan Growth Forum in London.

Last November, BG reported it put the plans for the so-called phase three on hold as a result of the global financial crisis and spiraling costs.

Phase three of the development of Karachaganak, a huge gas condensate field in western Kazakhstan, had been planned to come on stream by the end of 2012. The expansion is expected to raise the field’s production to 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year and 335,000 barrels of liquids a day. In 2007, BG estimated that the cost of the phase three expansion would be an $8 billion but independent estimates put the projected costs higher.