Pipeline problems cloud Kashagan oil outlook « Caspian Research Institute

Pipeline problems cloud Kashagan oil outlook « Caspian Research Institute:



"A YEAR ago, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas projects, the massive Kashagan field in Kazakhstan’s part of the Caspian Sea, was on the verge of starting production after more than a decade of development and US$40 billion in costs.



Its backers, a combination of international oil companies ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Eni, Japan’s Inpex, the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazMunaiGas, had every expectation Kashagan would be producing as much as 8 million tonnes of oil this year, equivalent to 170,000 barrels a day.



But a series of gas leaks from pipelines soon after production started in mid-September last year brought the operation to a halt on October 9. Now, nine months later, instead of the expected cash flow, the partners are awaiting the results of a long and complex investigation into the pipeline failures."



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