North Caspian Operating Company must build infrastructure to allow annual delivery of 2.5 billion cubic metres of raw gas for onshore processing by 2029
The Eni- and Shell-led operator of Kazakhstan’s largest offshore oilfield, Kashagan, will need to launch two long-awaited pipeline tenders within the next three months in order to align with a separate project processing associated gas produced from the field, two Kazakh industry sources told Upstream.
In the two tenders, which the company has been preparing since 2023, operator North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) plans to select contractors to build one pipeline that will ship associated sour gas produced offshore at Kashagan to the Caspian Sea coast, and a second link that will connect the first pipeline with the planned processing plant further inland.
NCOC will have to finalise a shortlist of approved capable bidders and award engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts before the end of this year if it is to complete and commission the pipeline by the end of 2029 when the gas processing plant is scheduled to start operations.
