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Caspian lowland possibly contains 60 bln tons of oil reserves: Kazakh official

Xinhua, June 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Caspian lowland may contain hydrocarbon reserves estimated at 60 billion tons, a senior Kazakh official said on Monday.

This is based on studies carried out by world leading experts, Kazakh Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik told the Majilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan's parliament.

He said that a Kazakh-Russian "Eurasia" project for the development of hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian lowland has already started and a number of world leading oil and gas companies are interested in this project.

Now a consortium is formed to find potential investors for the project, he said, and the "Eurasia" project will employ innovative geological technologies for subsoil and super-deep wells drilling to a depth of 15 kilometers.

According to Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy, the project involves exploration and drilling operations in the Caspian lowland, where 80 percent of hydrocarbon resources of Kazakhstan is concentrated.

It is expected that exploration will be carried out not only in the Caspian Sea but also in a number of regions of Kazakhstan and Russia.

The project is planned to be implemented in 2015-2020, with preliminary cost estimated at 500 million U.S. dollars.

Up to 20 major oil and gas fields might be discovered in the Caspian lowland, each with reserves amounting to 200 million-300 million tons of oil. Endit