No progress expected in KCTS project

/AzerNews/

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakhstan doesn't expect any progress in implementation of the project on establishment of the Kazakhstan Caspian Transportation System (KCTS), Kazakh Energy Ministry said adding this is mainly due to investigations which need to be carried out for oil transportation route alternatives to the Russian one.

The new planning is expected to be synchronized with the second stage of Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea, which is still to be specified.

"Due to the delay in the second stage of the Kashagan field's development, it was decided to suspend the KCTS project," the ministry noted.

Recently, Kazakh Energy Ministry said Kazakhstan is considering new oil export routes which could go beyond Russian oil, including oil transportation from the Aktau port through the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and beyond.

The largest markets for Kazakhstan's oil are China and Iran.

Currently the transit through Russia is the main route for Kazakhstan among all the other oil export routes. In particular, the pipeline system of the Transneft JSC and the pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium are the traditional routes for transportation of Kazakh oil.

The KCTS envisages providing Kazakh oil exports to international markets mainly from the Kashagan field (second and third phases) across the Caspian Sea, via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and other oil transportation systems in Azerbaijan, as well as in other transit countries.

The KCTS is expected to include the Eskene-Kuryk oil pipeline running to the Kuryk oil terminal on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as an oil terminal on the Kazakh coast, tankers, vessels, an oil terminal on the Azerbaijani coast, and the linking facilities up to the Baku Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

Kazakhstan, one of the five Central Asian countries, is rich with hydrocarbon reserves. The country's production comes mainly from five onshore fields - Tengiz, Karachaganak, Aktobe, Mangistau, and Uzen - and two offshore fields - Kashagan and Kurmangazy, both located in the Caspian Sea.

The oil production in Kazakhstan amounted to 81.7 million tons in 2013 which is 3.2 percent more than 2012. The forecasts show that after 2020 around two million barrels of oil will be produced in Kazakhstan per day. The country plans to produce 83 million tons of oil, 41 billion cubic meters of gas, as well as to process 14.7 million tons of oil in 2014.