Kashagan gas processing plant capacity could increase ten-fold - state fund

ASTANA. Dec 28 (Interfax) - Capacity at the gas processing plant at Kazakhstan's Kashagan field could increase ten-fold.

"We are currently working on the construction of the first stage of the Kashagan gas processing plant, this is 1 billion cubic meters of gas. In the future, at the second stage, we are considering the construction of [a facility to process] either 2 bcm or 4 bcm of gas and then there will be 6 bcm of gas from the processing plant. In total, this is about 10 bcm," National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna's Managing Director for Strategy and Asset Management Ernat Berdigulov told journalists in Astana on Wednesday.

Construction of the gas processing plant began at Kashagan in the summer of 2021, with commissioning scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

National company QazaqGaz and Kashagan project operator North Caspian Operating Company signed an agreement in December 2021 on the Kashagan Phase 2A front end engineering design, which provides for an increase in the gas processing capacity. The project calls for the construction of a new gas processing plant with capacity of up to 2 bcm a year, in addition to the ongoing project aimed at building the plant with processing capacity of 1 bcm a year.

Kashagan is considered one of the largest fields discovered in recent decades. Commercial production at Kashagan began on November 1, 2016.