Extraction at Kashagan will start only in 2008, agreement will be made in February - Total

/REUTERS, Paris, February 19, 04/ - French oil and gas concern Total participating in the project of development of the giant Kazakhstan field Kashagan at Caspian Sea shelf, expects extraction will start in April of 2008, and the long-awaited agreement about postponement of starting of field's industrial development will be signed the next week. Head of Total Thierry Desmarest informed about it at the briefing on Thursday without giving details. It was planned to start extraction at the biggest of revealed in the world for the last 30 years fields in 2005, however Italian ENI heading the consortium stated it would occur no earlier than in 2006-2007. Kazakhstan in response demanded compensation and since the beginning of autumn of 2003 the sides have been negotiating behind the closed doors. The consortium also comprises American Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch/Shell and Japanese Inpex. According to the consortium's data, Kashagan's reserves are equal to nine billion barrels of oil that lets extract about 1.0 million barrels a day (50 million tons a year) for a long period of time. Kazakhstan estimates reserves at 2.4- 3.2 billion tons of oil (21.6-23.4 billion barrels). However development of the field is complicated by geological difficulties, and also by the fact that Caspian Sea freezes in winter. Consortium has already invested $2.2 billion into the project, and its sources say the first phase of industrial development of the field may cost $9 billion that will make Kashagan the biggest oil project in the world. Kazakhstan, which now extracts 1.0 million barrels of oil a day, hopes that after Kashagan's development extraction will treble by 2015. It will let Kazakhstan become one of the leading players at the world oil market. [2004-02-20]