Kazakhstan, Russia’s Lukoil to explore Al-Farabi oil field in the Caspian Sea

Kazakhstan’s national company KazMunayGas and Russia’s oil major Lukoil plan joint exploration of the offshore section of Al-Farabi oil field in the Caspian Sea, Kazakh energy ministry said.

It said that sides held talks followed by signing a protocol. Two companies plan to set a joint venture, where the Kazakh side is expected to own 50.01%.

Al-Farabi is located in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. The water depth within the site is 150-500 meters, the distance to the coast is 100-130 km, the area is about 6,000 square meters.

Lukoil is an investor in Kazakhstan with assets in the Khvalynskoye (50%), Centralnaya (25%), Zhenis (50%) projects as well as in Tengiz (5%), Karachaganak (13.5 %) and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (12.5%).