KazMunayGaz and CNOOC agree to team up on exploration projects
Оригинальный текст опубликован на сайте «Upstream», 17 October 2023 11:49 GMT . Автор: Материал доступен по .
Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGaz and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have agreed to team up in a drive to boost the Kazakh oil and gas sector.
The Kazakh state oil and gas company and Chinese giant signed a memorandum of co-operation on the sidelines of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to Beijing this week to attend China’s Belt and Road Forum.
The agreement between the two companies covers joint geological research on promising exploration projects, expanding co-operation on existing fields and the provision of oilfield services.
KazMunayGaz said that earlier this year, it “presented a number of promising offshore and onshore projects in Kazakhstan to CNOOC”, including geological exploration projects and a regional project for the Caspian sedimentary basin.
Kazakh authorities have been trying to lure Chinese investors into its mid-scale onshore and large offshore oil and gas exploration projects after Western oil majors started refusing to consider long-term investments and instead began focusing on renewables.
Kazakhstan’s top three oil and gas developments — Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak — are already operated by a group of US and European oil majors, but China National Petroleum Corporation has also bought controlling stakes in several other Kazakh projects over the past two decades.
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In September, KazMunayGaz revealed an attempt to share exploration risk at the large Bolashak onshore oil and gas block in Kazakhstan’s Mangistau region, with a preference for investors from the Forbes Magazine Global 2000 list of top companies.
The Kazakh company said it will accept applications until mid-November from potential partners to form a joint venture to explore and possibly develop the Bolashak acreage.
However, with Bolashak having so far failed to attract Western investors, the only interest in the acreage may come from China, according to Nurlan Zhumagulov, executive director of Kazakhstan’s non-governmental organisation Energy Monitor.
KazMunayGaz had earlier indicated that Bolashak was part of a larger acreage offering being considered for possible co-operation with another Chinese player, Sinopec.
Sinopec is already an investor in Kazkahstan petrochemical and polyethylene projects, and Tokayev met the Chinese company’s chairman, Ma Yongsheng, earlier on Tuesday in Beijing to discuss Sinopec’s plans in the country, according to the Kazakh president’s press statement
Tokayev was also reported to have held a meeting with the Zhu Hexin, chairman of China’s state investment group Citic, which is a 50:50 partner with KazMunayGaz in Kazkah regional producer Karazhanbasmunay.