Resumption of extraction at Kashagan field expected in the second half of 2016

The resumption of the production at the Kashagan field is expected in the second half of 2016, the news agency Novosti Kazakhstan reports, referring to the Deputy Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Magzum Mirzagaliev.

"On the assumption of information received and technical forecasts, it should be the second half of 2016. Since mid-2016, we will, as they say, expect oil there every day (...). The production at the Kashagan field was started, there is oil, and we hope that the production will start after the replacement of pipes, in 2016,"- he said.

The production at the Kashagan field was stopped in September of the previous year, two weeks after its start, due to a gas leak. Almost immediately after the resumption of the production in October 2013 another leak was discovered. Analysis, which was conducted over several months, revealed the presence of numerous micro-cracks in the pipeline that have appeared as a result of exposure of associated gas with high sulfur content to metal.