Eni was one of the first international energy companies to come to Kazakhstan, in the early 1990s, and in 2000 we discovered the offshore oil and gas field 80km south-east of Atyrau, in the north Caspian Sea.
We hold a 16.81 per cent interest in the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement (NCSPSA), which regulates the exploration, development and production rights over a 4,600km2 area of the giant Kashagan field until the end of 2041. We began oil production here in September 2013. Agip KCO, a local subsidiary, is responsible for developing and starting production at the field. We process the gas produced and send it to the state company KazTransGas. Any that remains is used to produce fuel gas, and we reinject gas that is not processed (about 30 per cent) back into the field. We stabilise the liquids at Bolashak then market them in the West through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (in which Eni has a two per cent interest) and the Atyrau-Samara pipeline. We also carry out studies into further phases of development, including expanding capacity for natural gas injection, converting wells from producers into injectors and upgrading existing facilities.
In 2021, the development activities of the Kashagan field (Eni’s interest 16.81%) concerned the phased expansion program of production capacity. The first development phase envisages increasing the production Management report | Consolidated financial statements | Annex 67 capacity up to 450 kbbl/d by upgrading the existing associated gas compression handling. The ongoing activities, sanctioned in 2020, mainly concerned increasing gas reinjection capacity by means of upgrading the existing facilities and delivering a part of gas volumes to a new onshore treatment unit operated by a third party, currently under construction.
In 2021, production averaged 374 kbbl/day of liquids (approximately 62 kbbl/day net to Eni) and 421 mmcf/day of natural gas (approximately 70 mmcf/day net to Eni).
