The northern Caspian Sea may contain large amounts of previously unexplored oil reserves, the Kazakh Ministry of Energy announced on Oct. 1.
“Computer simulations of 15 sedimentary basins were conducted. And, according to our expectations, and according to the results of computer simulations, the northern parts of the Caspian Sea may have large oil reserves,” said Deputy Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Magzum Mirzagaliyev,according to Tengrinews.kz.
Mirzagaliyev also noted that the project, known as Eurasia, to further explore the northern Caspian’s oil reserves would be conducted in cooperation with Russia. The project was presented to heads of state Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin during an exhibition in Atyrau at the end of September.
“[The project] is now very conceptual. Representatives of the international community are interested in it, as well as the Russian side. It is necessary to conduct a very careful examination, to drill appraisal wells to a depth of 15,000 metres, which will allow us to make all the necessary studies and understand how the results of computer simulation can be confirmed,” Mirzagaliyev said, adding that the initial cost of the project is estimated at about $500 million.
The Eurasia project for the exploration of the deep-lying layers of the Caspian Basin was introduced at the 8th Eurasian Kazenergy Forum, Energy of the Future – Eurasian Perspectives, in October 2013. The project soon was established as an interdepartmental group of the Kazakh government. Later, a project team was formed, which has been dealing with initial organisational work to further implement the project.
The project involves geological exploration and drilling in the Caspian Basin, which is one of the highest on the potential of the sedimentary basins of Kazakhstan.
