Work by the consortium Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), under concession until 2037, is governed by a production-sharing agreement between Eni and our co-operator Shell. We produce liquids (condensates and oil) from the deepest sections of the field. About 50 per cent of the gas produced we sell to the power station at Orenburg in Russia; the rest is injected into the higher parts of the field or used to produce fuel gas. About 95 per cent of the liquids produced are stabilised at the Karachaganak Processing Complex (KPC), then marketed in the West through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and the Atyrau-Samara pipeline, which is linked to Russian export systems. Until September 2018, when the acquisition contract expired, the remainder of the liquids were sent, without being stabilised, to the Orenburg power station. With regard to ongoing development, the Karachaganak Process Center Debottlenecking project was approved as part of the increase in the gas-treatment capacity at plants in the Karachaganak field. Work is expected to end in 2020. Capacity will be ensured in the coming years by installing more facilities for reinjecting gas.
Within the gas treatment expansion projects of the Karachaganak field, in 2021 activities concerned:
the Karachaganak Debottlenecking project was completed. The construction of a fourth gas reinjection unit is currently being finalized
- the Karachaganak Expansion Project (KEP) to increase gas re-injection capacity progressed. The project is scheduled to be achieved in several phases. The development program of the first phase, sanctioned at the end of 2020, provides the construction of a sixth injection line, the drilling of three additional injection wells and of a new gas compression unit. Start-up is expected in 2024. The project includes an additional phase with the installation of a new treatment and compression units.
In 2021, production of the Karachaganak field averaged 226 kbbl/day of liquids (40 kbbl/day net to Eni) and 866 mmcf/day of natural gas (approximately 160 mmCF/day net to Eni).