Karachaganak Field

Located in the Uralsk Region of West Kazakhstan, it was discovered in 1979 by a well drilled to investigate a structural high detected during a reinterpretation of 2D seismic shot between 1970 and 1971. Production began in 1984 under the operatorship of Karachaganakgazprom. Limited quantities of gas and condensate were exported to Russia via pipelines and to the processing facilities at Orenburg. On 3 October 2006, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement to create a joint venture on the basis of Orenburg gas processing plant for processing gas from the Karachaganak field.

The phase began with three wells penetrating into the Permian formations of the reservoir. Once produced to surface the gas and oil were separated before being piped to Orenburg where further processing was undertaken. This was partially due to the sour nature of the gas, with a hydrogen sulphide content of 3.5-5.0% and carbon dioxide content of 5%. Karachaganckgazprom also maintained a policy of full gas voidage replacement to maintain pressure of the reservoir above the dew point. By 1990, approximately 200 vertical wells had been drilled in Karachaganak reaching a peak production plateau of {{convert|425|e6cuft|abbr=off}} per day of gas and {{convert|100,000|oilbbl/d}} of oil, before beginning to decline in 1992.C&C Reservoirs: Karachagnak Field Aug 2010

Beginning in 2000 under the operatorship of Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), the field went under a redevelopment program. This involved an investment of over US$1 billion into the construction and enhancement of existing facilities, new gas and liquid processing and gas injection facilities, a workover program consisting of 100 existing wells, a 120 MW power station for the facilities, and connection to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium via a {{convert|650|km|adj=on}} line to Atyrau. This phase was officially completed in 2004, allowing for the production handling of {{convert|700|e6cuft}} per day of gas and {{convert|200000|oilbbl/d}} of oil.

In January - June 2005, {{convert|6.4|e9m3|abbr=none}} of gas was recovered, and 5.7 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons was produced.

Overall, it is planned to recover about 300 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons and {{convert|800|e9m3|abbr=none}} natural gas during the contract period.

One current production issue facing the field is the increasing amount of gas of which a large amount is sour. As the export facilities of the project are not fully developed, most of this gas is being recycled back into the reservoir until it can be exported profitably.

It is estimated that the Karachaganak field contains 1.236 billion tonnes of liquids and {{convert|1.371|e12m3|abbr=none}} of natural gas in place ({{convert|17.78|Goilbbl}} of oil equivalent).

The Karachaganak Field is one of the world's largest gas condensate fields. It is located in the Pre-Caspian (or North Caspian) Basin, which extends from the southeastern margin of the Russian Platform down to the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, and includes the offshore Caspian Sea north of about 44° N. The North Caspian is a pericratonic depression of Late Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic age. Sediments in the {{convert|500,000|km2|adj=on}} basin are up to {{convert|22|km}} thick in places. The basin is subdivided into numerous zones by large salt domes, and the primary salt layer, the Permian Kungurian salt, separates strata vertically into subsalt and suprasalt layers. The basin is bounded to the east by the Hercynian Ural Mountains and to the southeast and south by other orogenic belts. In the north, the basin lies on the flank of the Voronezh Massif in the west and the Volga-Ural Platform in the north. Numerous oil and gas fields have been discovered in this region in addition to Karachaganak, such as Astrakhan, Tengiz and Zhanazhol Fields.

The field consists of a heterogeneous carbonate massif with strata from three geologic periods and numerous stages of deposition during these periods. The following have been identified:

• Permian: Kungurian, Artinskian, Sakmarian, Asselian
• Carboniferous: Serpukhovian, Visean, Tournaisian
• Devonian: Famennian

The depositional setting of the field is also varied. On the basis of core sample analysis and seismic studies the following depositional settings have been identified: limestone, talus, normal marine, shallow marine, inner reef lagoon, reef core, relatively deep water, slope, and anhydrite.

The variation of deposition is due to the long period over which the Karachaganak structure was formed. From the Late Devonian to the middle Carboniferous the field was an atoll, over which in the Early Permian a system of reefs were built. At its greatest the reservoir is 1.5 km thick. This type of reservoir structure has been seen in analogous fields including Kenkiyak, Zhanazhol, Tengiz, and possibly Astrakhan fields. A west-east cross section through Karachaganak resembles the twin humps of a camel, indicating two separate reef highs.

Likewise, the large variation of deposition has led to four different types of carbonate cores in the structure: biothermal, biomorphic detrital, organo-clastic, and biochemogenic. Of these biomorphic detrital are the most common followed by biothermal rock types. However, estimates of their volumes range from 30-90% for the former and 10-60% for the latter.

As with other reservoirs in the North Caspian (Pricaspian) Basin, it is thought that the Karachaganak reservoir was filled over multiple stages, the first of which began during late Paleozoic time with the formation of oil pools. As the basin began to subside, gas was generated and migrated to the traps. The gassiness of the reservoirs is determined by their location in the basin. Northern reservoirs tend to be wet; the southwest part of the basin is more gas prone than are the east and southeast.

Since 2002, residents from the village located closest to the Karachaganak Field have been campaigning for relocation and compensation. The villagers, led by the local organization Zhasil Dala (Green Steppe), maintain that they are suffering a host of illnesses and environmental degradation due to exposure to toxic emissions from the Karachaganak Field, situated five kilometers away.

{{cite web

| title=Karachaganak Campaign

| work=Crude Accountability website

| url=http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/index.php?page=karachaganak

| accessdate=August 11, 2010

| archive-date=May 31, 2010

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531014435/http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/index.php?page=karachaganak

| url-status=dead

}}

Independent Bucket Brigade air monitoring conducted by the villagers from September 2004 to August 2005 registered more than 25 toxic substances in the air, including hydrogen sulfide, methylene chloride, carbon disulfide, toluene, and acrylonitrile.{{cite web

| title=Karachaganak Oil and Gas Field Threatens Health of Citizens: The Scientific Data

| work=Crude Accountability website

| url=http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/uploads/File/karachaganak/data_on_toxins_2004.pdf

| accessdate=August 11, 2010

| archive-date=July 25, 2011

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725211707/http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/uploads/File/karachaganak/data_on_toxins_2004.pdf

| url-status=dead

}} In 2005, Karachaganak's regional environmental authority temporarily revoked the operating license of KPO B.V. due to environmental violations, including emitting 56 thousand tons of toxic waste in the atmosphere in 2004, improper storage of toxic solid waste on the field, and dumping toxic effluent into the water table.{{cite web

| title=Environmental Dregs, by Alla Zlobina

| work=Uralsk Weekly

| url=http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=16&cntnt01detailtemplate=press&cntnt01returnid=69

| accessdate=August 11, 2010

| archive-date=July 25, 2011

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725211843/http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=16&cntnt01detailtemplate=press&cntnt01returnid=69

| url-status=dead

}} The consortium was found to have dumped an excess of waste in 2008, resulting in a $21 million fine in early 2010.{{cite web

| title=Karachaganak players hit with $21m fine

| work=upstreamonline.com

| url=http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article207600.ece

| accessdate = August 11, 2010 }}

The villagers contend that they should have been relocated upon the start of field operations as Kazakhstani law stipulates a five-kilometer Sanitary Protection Zone (SPZ) around the field. However, in 2003, the government reduced the SPZ to three kilometers, effectively barring the villagers from relocation. After three years of protest from the villagers, Kazakhstan's Public Prosecutor found the 2003 decision to reduce the SPZ to be illegal, and the five-kilometer SPZ was reinstated in 2006.{{cite web

| title=Karachaganak Sanitary Protection Zone Reinstated to Five Kilometers

| work=Crude Accountability website

| url=http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/uploads/File/karachaganak/SanitaryZoneReinstated_20071203.pdf

| accessdate=August 11, 2010

| archive-date=July 25, 2011

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725211904/http://www.crudeaccountability.org/en/uploads/File/karachaganak/SanitaryZoneReinstated_20071203.pdf

| url-status=dead

}}

However, the village has not been relocated.

In 2002, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), provided $150 million in loans to Lukoil for development of the Karachaganak Field. These loans were repaid by Lukoil in January 2009.{{cite web

| title=Kazakhstan/Lukoil Overseas-01/Berezovka

| work=CAO website

| url=http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/case_detail.aspx?id=104

| accessdate = August 11, 2010 }}

From 2004 to 2008, three complaints were filed with the IFC's Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman's office regarding the IFC's violations of its own environmental standards in financing the Karachaganak Field.{{cite web

| title=CAO Cases

| work=CAO website

| url=http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/default.aspx?region_id=2

| accessdate = August 11, 2010 }}

One of the complaints results in a report by the Auditor, published in April 2008, which documented numerous instances of non-compliance with IFC standards at Karachaganak. One of the revelations was that no results for hydrogen sulfide monitoring had been reported between 2003 and 2006—years during which the Berezovka residents maintain they were suffering health problems due to hydrogen sulfide exposure.

{{cite web

| title=Audit Report

| work=CAO website

| url=http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/case_detail.aspx?id=104

| accessdate = August 11, 2010 }}

Zhasil Dala works in partnership on this campaign with the US-based environmental justice organization Crude Accountability and the Kazakhstani Ecological Society Green Salvation, among others.

{{Portal|Energy}}

• Natural gas processing
• Natural gas condensate
• Oil and gas basins of Kazakhstan

• [http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/NG25-KazakhstansgasExportMarketsandExportRoutes-ShamilYenikeyeff-2008.pdf Kazakhstan's Gas: Export Markets and Export Routes, by Shamil Yenikeyeff], Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, November 2008
• {{cite web | title=The Giant Karachaganak Field, Unlocking its Potential | work=Schlumberger Oil Field Review | url=http://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors98/aut98/giant.pdf | accessdate=March 25, 2006 | archive-date=April 16, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416181901/http://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors98/aut98/giant.pdf | url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web | title=Developing Coiled-Tubing Techniques on the Karachaganak Field, Kazakhstan | work=SPE Paper Abstract | url=http://www.spe.org/elibinfo/eLibrary_Papers/spe/2001/01CTR/00068349/00068349.htm | accessdate=March 25, 2006}}
• {{cite web | title=KPO Operations | work=KPO Corporate website | url=http://www.kpo.kz}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.bg-group.com/15#ref_ourbusiness/whereweoperate/pages/kazakhstan.aspx |title=BG Group - Where we work |work=bg-group.com |date=April 8, 2014 |accessdate=April 8, 2014 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140409050353/http://www.bg-group.com/15 |archivedate=April 9, 2014 |url-status=live |publisher=BG Group }}
• {{cite web|title=Geology and Petroleum Potential of Central Asia |work=Rice University |url=http://bakerinstitute.org/Pubs/studies/gppca/gppca.html |accessdate=March 25, 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217201258/http://bakerinstitute.org/Pubs/studies/gppca/gppca.html |archivedate=February 17, 2006 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web | title=Internet Geology Newsletter No 192 | work=James Clarke | url=http://www.geocities.com/internetgeology/L192a.html| accessdate=March 25, 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040125003526/http://geocities.com/internetgeology/L192a.html|archivedate=2004-01-25}}
• {{cite web | title=Reservoir Geology of the Karachaganak Field | work=A. Giovannelli | url=http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/abstracts/cairo2002/images/giovannelli.htm| accessdate=April 24, 2006}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.kpo.kz Karachaganak Petroleum Operating Homepage]
• [http://www.bg-group.com/international/int-kaz.htm BG Group - Kazakhstan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060312230316/http://www.bg-group.com/international/int-kaz.htm |date=2006-03-12 }}
• [https://archive.today/20070311114924/http://www.eni.it/eniit/eni/realProgram.do?programName=attivita&continent=asia_e_oceania&country=kazakhstan&lang=eng&sessionId=11569594 ENI - Kazakhstan]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060404065519/http://www.chevron.com/operations/eurasia/#operations Chevron - Eurasia]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060320063351/http://www.lukoil.com/static_6_5id_255_.html Lukoil - International Exploration]
• [http://www.cpc.ru Caspian Pipeline Consortium]
• [http://www.crudeaccountability.org Crude Accountability]
• [http://www.greensalvation.org/en/ Green Salvation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214091212/http://www.greensalvation.org/en/ |date=2010-02-14 }}
• [https://archive.today/20071205155950/http://silkroadintelligencer.com/2007/12/02/karachaganak-and-the-future-of-petrochemical-industry-in-kazakhstan-2 Karachaganak and the Future of Petrochemical Industry in Kazakhstan]

{{Resources in Kazakhstan}}

Category:Oil fields of Kazakhstan

Category:Natural gas fields in Kazakhstan

Category:Oil fields of the Soviet Union

Category:Chevron Corporation oil and gas fields

Category:Lukoil oil and gas fields

Category:Natural gas fields in the Soviet Union

Category:Environmental justice