During the government hour on "Current Activities and Future Prospects of the Oil Industry," the Chairman of the Board of "KazMunayGas," Askat Khasenov, reported that the company has begun to actively develop geological exploration in promising and underexplored areas, where the potential may reach 1.7 billion tons of oil equivalent, as reported by a correspondent from the business information center Kapital.kz.
"We conducted extensive seismic surveys in five new areas in the Aktobe, West Kazakhstan, and Mangistau regions: Mugodzhar, Berezovsky, Zharkyn, Bolashak, and Northern Ozen. High potential has been discovered in these areas. The aforementioned sites have attracted particular interest from companies such as Shell, Chevron, CNOOC, Sinopec, and CNPC. Work has already begun to identify strategic partners and secure new contracts," said Askat Khasenov.
For instance, in October, we signed the main terms of the agreement with CNOOC for the drilling project in the Zhylyoi area.
"According to global statistics, the success rate of geological exploration projects is only 20-30%, meaning that out of every 10 drilled wells, only 2-3 turn out to be successful. Unfortunately, we are experiencing this statistic ourselves. In the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, over the past year, we drilled two wells - Abai and Zhenis, which were unsuccessful and cost investors about $180 million," explained Askat Khasenov.
He added that drilling deep wells is highly capital-intensive and involves significant risks.
"Today, KMG is implementing a number of projects, one of which is the Karaton Podsolevo well at a depth of 5500 meters. On November 23, we began drilling this well in partnership with PJSC "Tatneft." It is worth noting that the adopted mechanism of the "Improved Model Contract" has increased the attractiveness of complex geological exploration projects… KMG believes it is necessary to continue improving this mechanism," said Askat Khasenov.
The head of the company reminded that KMG has started implementing geological exploration projects in the Kyzylorda and Aktobe regions, where there is a significant decline in oil production. In late May 2024, drilling began on a deep well, 5500 meters deep, for the Turgai Paleozoic project located in the Kyzylorda region. In the Aktobe region, drilling of exploratory wells for the Karazhar project at 3000 meters is planned to commence.
In total, the company has 11 active projects in its portfolio, with a total volume of geological resources of about 2 billion tons in oil equivalent.