Russia's Orenburg processing plant receiving only 28% of usual gas from Kazakhstan's Karachaganak

ASTANA. July 2 (Interfax) - Only 28% of the usual amount of gas is currently being delivered to the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant in Russia from Kazakhstan's Karachaganak field, Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said.

"280,000 cubic meters of gas is now going. This is 28% of the norm," Akkenzhenov said when asked by Interfax if Gazprom's Orenburg GPP had resumed accepting gas from Karachaganak.

Production at Karachaganak, Kazakhstan's largest oil and gas field was reduced by 9,000 tonnes at the end of June due to an incident at the Orenburg plant. Akkenzhenov said at the time that "gas receiving has been reduced, but the gas supply to all of Kazakhstan has not been disrupted."

Raw gas from Karachaganak is shipped to the Orenburg plant for processing, after which some of it returns to Kazakhstan in the form of commercial and liquefied gas. Production of raw associated petroleum gas at the field is inextricably linked to extraction of oil and gas condensate.

Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said on June 24 that the country had adjusted the logistics of gas supplies and was covering demand for the fuel with other sources due to the incident at the Orenburg plant.

Gazprom and KazMunayGas (KMG) have been working together since 2002 under the joint venture KazRosGaz, which was formed on a parity basis to buy Karachaganak gas, process it at the Orenburg GPP and sell it to customers in Kazakhstan and Russia.

KazRosGaz signed a long-term purchase-sale contract for Karachaganak gas with project operator Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV in 2007. The contract was extended in 2015 to 2038 for up to 9 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Karachaganak is one of the largest fields in the world, with 1.2 billion tonnes of oil and 1.35 trillion cubic meters of gas.