Russia, Kazakhstan plan to sign Khvalyn deposit PSA this year
MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Russia and Kazakhstan plan to sign a production-sharing agreement for the Khvalyn deposit on the Caspian Sea shelf this year.
This timing was laid out in a joint plan of action between the two countries for the period 2013-2015 their presidents inked late last year. Interfax has examined a copy of this document.
The Russian Energy Ministry, Caspian Oil and Gas Company, and Lukoil for Russia and the Kazakh Oil and Gas Ministry and KazMunayGas for Kazakhstan have been instructed to "ensuring the signing of an agreement for the sharing of product from the use of the resources of the oil and gas condensate deposit Khvalyn between the Russian government and the investor LLC Caspian Oil and Gas Company," the plan says. This is to be done this year.
It was supposed earlier that the Khvalyn deposit PSA would be signed in 2009, however, an interdepartmental commission for working up the document was set up only in May of 2011.
The Khvalyn deposit was discovered in 2002. It is located in the northern Caspian 260 km from Astrakhan, where the water is 25-30 meters deep. C1+C2 deposits are 332 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 18.4 million tons of condensate. In-place oil reserves are 241.897 million tons. The field could produce 8 bcm of gas and 500,000 tons of concentrate per year.
In 2005, Lukoil and KazMunayGas set up the joint venture Caspian Oil and Gas Company LLC to develop the field. At the end of last October, KazMunayGas signed an agreement for the sale of 25% from its stake in the project with Total and GDF Suez. Stakes in the project will be as follows: KazMunayGas 25%, Total and GDF 25%, and Lukoil 50%.