Kazakhstan has started construction of a new gas processing plant in the Makat district of the country’s Atyrau region, 12 km northeast of the existing onshore Bolashak oil and gas treatment complex, to accommodate associated gas production from giant offshore Kashagan oil field (OGJ Online, Mar. 2, 2020).
Backed by GPC Investment LLP, the $860-million gas plant will have a design capacity to process 1 billion cu m/year of sulfur dioxide from Kashagan field to produce 815 million cu m/year of commercial gas, 119,000 tonnes/year (tpy) of liquified gas, 212,000 tpy of sulfur, and 35,000 tpy of gas condensate.
Scheduled for commissioning in fourth-quarter 2023, the gas processing plant will allow oil production from Kashagan field to increase by 450,000 b/d, as associated gas production at the site to date has inhibited higher crude production rates, according to the office of Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Askar Mamin.
Alleviating the current gas processing overload on the Bolashak treatment complex, will allow the Bolashak plant to treat Kashagan field’s increased oil production.
In addition to reducing the volume of gas reinjection required at Kashagan field and expanding its gas processing sector, startup of the new plant will improve environmental conditions in Atyrau by lowering atmospheric emissions from oil and gas activities in the region, the ministry said.
Located 80 km southeast of Atyrau in the north Caspian Sea and reaching first production in 2013, Kashagan production in 2020 averaged 347,000 b/d of liquids and 402 MMcfd of natural gas, according to the most recent factbook to investors from Eni SPA, which holds a 16.81% interest in the field via the North Caspian Sea PSA Consortium (NCPSA).
Liquid production from the field currently is stabilized at the Bolashak complex for export along the Caspian Pipeline Consortium—in which Eni holds a 2% interest—and the Atyrau-Samara pipeline.
Field operator North Caspian Operating Co. BV acts on behalf of NCPSA partners, which alongside Eni include: KazMunayGas, ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and TotalEnergies, 16.81% each; ConocoPhillips 8.4%, and Inpex 7.56%.