The Oil Resources of Kazakhstan

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Abstract
Kazakhstan, the second-largest oil-producing former Soviet republic, accounts for 5 to 6 percent of total Soviet output in recent years. With over 15 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves, it has attracted some capital from major international oil companies and has been in the forefront of their “rush” into the region. Kazakhstan has signed contracts with more than 40 foreign companies from 17 different countries, including several mega-deals. Output has declined over the past two years (by 13.5%, from 26.6 million tons in 1991 to 23.0 million tons in 1993), mainly because of the ongoing economic and political changes set in motion after the demise of the USSR, and principally due to problems involving Kazakhstan's trade relations with Russia. Output continues to be restricted because of the lack of an independent pipeline route to the world market. Kazakhstan's main oil-producing areas are concentrated in the North Caspian Basin. Early production in the area was from suprasalt Permian and Cretaceous rocks, in structural traps originating from salt tectonism. More recently, significant discoveries such as Tengiz and Karachaganak have been made in subsalt upper Paleozoic rocks. The greatest hydrocarbon potential is in the infrasalt Paleozoic deposits; the suprasalt deposits tend to have smaller reserves, and the deeper, lower Paleozoic sediments appear to have the least potential. Other areas of established or potential hydrocarbon accumulation include the older producing areas on the Mangyshlak-Buzachi peninsula, which still account for most of Kazakhstan's hydrocarbon production; the Turgay syneclise, which is the location of the Kumkol field and the unexploited Kushmurun basin; and the Zaysan basin in eastern Kazakhstan.