Kashagan Targets 2017 Oil Exports

Companies developing the giant Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan plan to export 12-14 million tonnes of oil in 2017 after launching commercial output, the chief executive of Kazakh oil pipeline firm KazTransOil said on Wednesday.

Operations at the field, expected to eventually reach production of 400,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent, started in September 2013 and were halted a month later due to gas leaks from the sour gas pipeline. They will restart after pipeline replacement.

KazTransOil Chief Executive Kairgeldy Kabyldin told an oil and gas conference in Kazakhstan that Kashagan shareholders, some of which also own stakes in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the main export route from the field, have sent their export estimates to the pipeline managers.

The Kashagan shareholders are Eni, Exxon Mobil (XOM) , Royal Dutch Shell (RYDAF), France's Total and Kazakh state oil company Kazmunaigas, each with 16.8 percent, and Japan's Inpex and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) as junior partners.

(Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov)