Karachaganak Field Discovery

The Karachaganak field, discovered in 1979, is one of the world’s largest gas and condensate fields. Located in north-west Kazakhstan and covering an area of over 280 square kilometres, it holds estimated hydrocarbons initially in place (HIIP) of 13.6 billion barrels of liquids and 59.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, with estimated gross reserves of over 2.4 billion barrels of condensate and 16 tcf of gas.

The Karachaganak Venture brings expertise and knowledge from five oil & gas companies — ENI SpA (29.25%), Shell plc (29.25%), Chevron (18%), Lukoil (13.5%) and KazMunaiGas (10%). Together they share their experience and expertise with the Republic in looking at both domestic and export options for maximising the value of these resources.

In 1997, Venture partners set out with the former State Oil & Gas Authority to develop the vast reserves of Karachaganak. They signed a Final Production Sharing Agreement (FPSA) which will see the partnership operate Karachaganak until 2038. Since signing this agreement they have invested over $31.3 billion in the operations and have applied industry leading hydrocarbon technology to one of the world’s most complex reservoirs.

In 2023, hydrocarbon production in Karachaganak reached 142.698 mln. barrels of oil equivalent. 12,650 billion cubic metres of gas, which is approximately 56.5% of the total gas produced, were re-injected to maintain reservoir pressure.

While delivering on its operation commitments, KPO as a responsible corporate citizen works towards generating maximum social and economic benefits from the Karachaganak field for the local communities and the Republic of Kazakhstan as a whole.