Oil Chronicles
Oil Chronicles
December 2023
December 2 in Dubai (UAE), the Chairman of KazMunayGas, Magzum Mirzagaliyev, and the General Director of AD Ports Group, Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, in the presence of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, signed a Principles Agreement. The parties agreed to establish a joint working group to explore the potential construction of a ship repair and shipbuilding facility on the Caspian Sea coast in Kazakhstan.

December 2, the Chairman of QazaqGaz Sanzhar Zharkeshov and the Chairman of Presight Thomas Pramotedham signed a Cooperation Agreement in the digital transformation of the gas industry. The agreement plans the implementation of a pilot project to improve the transparency of gas accounting. The parties are also considering the joint development of a universal billing system for effective interaction with the gas company's subscribers.
December 4, KazMunayGas commissioned the East Urikhtau oil and gas field in the Aktobe region for commercial operation. Discovered in 2015, it is considered a complex project due to the high hydrogen sulfide content (3.5% and higher).
In 2024, the production at East Urikhtau is expected to reach 89,000 tons of oil and 46 bln cubic meters of gas. As part of the field's further development, nine additional production wells will be drilled (bringing their total to 15), increasing oil production volumes to 200,000 tons per year and associated gas to 100 bln cubic meters per year.
December 5, the Aktau bitumen plant owned by KazMunayGas (Caspi Bitum JV) halted production for scheduled preventive maintenance. According to the work schedule approved by the Ministry of Energy, the plant is expected to resume its technological mode by producing road bitumen in early January 2024.
December 6, the government approved the Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Major Oil and Gas and Petrochemical Projects for 2023 - 2027. It includes 20 significant projects in the oil and gas industry, refining, and petrochemicals, with an expected investment volume of $37.3 bln.
The document envisages the implementation of major oil and gas projects at the Tengiz, Karachaganak, and Kashagan fields, aimed at increasing oil production to 105.5 mln tons and gas to 82.1 bln cubic meters by 2027.
The plan also includes the construction of a Gas Processing Plant at Kashagan, increasing the production capacity of the Shymkent Refinery from 6 mln to 12 mln tons by 2029; projects to expand the Kenkiyak-Atyrau pipelines from 6 mln to 15 mln tons per year and Kenkiyak-Kumkol from 10 mln to 20 mln tons per year, which will ensure the Shymkent plant is supplied with the necessary volume of raw materials.
Seven projects are planned in geological exploration, including the development and preparation for production at the Kalamkas-sea and Khazar fields, the Urikhtau gas condensate field development, and the geological exploration project Karaton-Podsolnevoy.
December 8, by decision of the Board of Directors, Meiir Sheraly was appointed as the General Director of the QazaqGaz Scientific and Technical Center LLP. In 2010, he graduated from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom with a Bachelor of Engineering in Oil and Gas. He began his career in 2010 at the Ministry of Oil and Gas. From 2011 to 2022, he held several key positions in the oil service company Baker Hughes. During his tenure in Uzbekistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, and Turkmenistan, he implemented numerous drilling and field optimization projects. Before his appointment, he was Chairman of the Board of Samruk-Kazyna Ondeu LLP (formerly United Chemical Company).
December 8, Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of Kazakhstan's first President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, left his last post in public politics – as the chairman of the KazEnergy Association, which unites the largest enterprises of the oil and gas and energy sectors. He had held this position since the Association's inception in 2005. Following mass protests in January 2022, which led to Nazarbayev announcing his final departure from politics, Kulibayev stepped down as chairman of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs in February 2022, a position he had occupied since April 2010. A month later, in March, he resigned from his duties as a member of the Board of Directors and independent director of Gazprom PJSC, where he had been involved since 2011. Magzum Mirzagaliyev has been elected as the new chairman of the KazEnergy Association.
December 13, the Astrakhan-Mangyshlak main water pipeline was launched after reconstruction. The project's first stage was completed by the Main Water Pipeline LLP (a 100% subsidiary of KazTransOil JSC). The project included the replacement of two sections totaling about 176 km, resulting in the pipeline's capacity increasing from 110,000 cubic meters to 170,000 cubic meters per day. The main water pipeline supplies water to over 35% of the population of the Mangistau region and more than 28% of the population of the Atyrau region. Annual water consumption in the region is growing by 4-5%. The uninterrupted supply of Volga water is critical for the functioning and development of oil and gas extraction and industrial enterprises and projects of the SEZ "National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark" in the Atyrau region.