Commercial-scale production at Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea has started at a daily rate of 90,000 barrels, the country’s Energy Minister Qanat Bozumbaev said . The field is operated by a consortium including Exxon, Shell, Eni, Total, CNPC, and Japan’s Inpex, along with Kazakh state oil company Kazmunaygaz. Kashagan, the biggest oil discovery in Kazakhstan in about four decades, holds an estimated 38 billion barrels of crude and a trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Of the oil reserves, 10 billion barrels are recoverable. The field was first put into operation three years ago, but just a month later production was suspended because of a gas leak. An inspection revealed the whole 200-km stretch of pipelines set to transport oil and gas from Kashagan needed to be replaced because of micro-cracks, the result of high-sulfur associated gas running through them. Kazakhstan is the largest oil producer […]