Caspian N Block may hold up to 3 billion barrels of crude - oil company

energy

Caspian N Block may hold up to 3 billion barrels of crude - oil company

By SRI ⋅ November 11, 2009 ⋅

(SRI) - The N Block, an offshore exploration project in Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea, may hold 1.5 billion to 3 billion barrels of crude oil, Mubadala Development Co., one of the companies developing the project, said on Tuesday.

Exploration at the N Block, also known as Nursultan Block. may take three to four years and development may last “several” years beyond that, Maurizio La Noce, head of Mubadala Oil & Gas, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi today. Mubadala Oil & Gas is the oil and gas arm of Abu-Dhabi-based investment company Mubadala.

Mubadala signed an agreement to develop the N Block shelf project with ConocoPhillips, a U.S. oil major, and Kazakhstan’s national oil company KazMunaiGas (KMG) in in June of 2009. As part of the agreement, Conoco and Mubadala agreed to pay Kazakhstan a $100 million signing bonus for buying a stake in the offshore oil block. Both foreign partners are also expected to finance all exploration costs.

The exploration block is located 30 kilometers south of the southwestern Aktau shelf in the Caspian and its area covers 8,184 square kilometers.