The Bakai Energy oil and gas processing plant, located 40km north-west of Atyrau in Kazakhstan, was launched in June 2013. The onshore processing plant, built as part of Kashagan project, will process oil and gas from the offshore Kashagan oil field in the North Caspian Sea.

The plant has the design capacity to process up to 450,000 barrels of oil and 8.8 million cubic metres of gas per day. The first oil production at the plant is expected by the end of 2013. The launch of the new processing plant is believed to have created more than 2,500 jobs.

The Kashagan field, located 80km south-east of Atyrau in the North Caspian Sea, is estimated to hold 35 billion barrels of oil. The field is being developed as part of the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement (NCSPSA) signed in 1997.

The NCSPSA consortium, comprised of seven partners, is responsible for the appraisal and development of 11 offshore blocks in the North Caspian Sea, which include the Kashagan, Kalamkas, Aktote and Kairan fields.

The operator under NCSPSA is the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC). The equity interests of the seven consortium partners in the operating company are 16.1% each for KMG (KazMunayGas), Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total, 8.40% for ConocoPhillips and 7.56% for INPEX.

Transferring hydrocarbons from the Kashagan field

Hydrocarbons will be extracted from the field at drilling islands and subsequently be moved via pipeline to hub islands, where recovered liquid will be separated from the raw gas. The hub islands will also have gas injection and power generation facilities.

Separated liquid and raw gas will then be conveyed via separate pipelines to the Bakai Energy – onshore processing plant, where the oil will be further stabilised and purified for exportation and the natural gas will be processed for hydrogen sulphide removal.

The treated gas will be mostly used as fuel for power generation at the offshore facilities, as well as at the processing plant itself, while the remaining will be sold in the market.