Italian Investors Fail to Find Oil in Kazakhstan

A joint venture between KazMunayGas and Italy's Eni failed to find oil at the Abay site in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, oil and gas analyst Oleg Chervinsky reported on Telegram, Orda.kz reports.

The analyst noted that the Abay-1 exploration well drilled on the Caspian shelf by Isatay Operating Company did not show commercial oil reserves. Isatay Operating is a company that KMG and Eni equally own. It conducts geological exploration in the Caspian under a 31-year contract.

Exploration of the Abay site began in 1995-1996. The Abay-1 well was drilled to a depth of two and a half kilometers, but exploration was unsuccessful. On October 1, the drilling rig was dismantled.

The geological program has been fully completed, but, apparently, there was no oil in this structure, writes Oleg Chervinsky, citing sources in KMG.

The analyst notes that this is not the first time the joint Kazakh-Italian company has failed to find oil on the Caspian shelf. In 2023, the LLP returned the Isatay site to the state ahead of schedule, which also had no extractable resources.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny

The original article was posted on 30/24/24