Problems for Kazakhstan at the country's biggest field

Kazakhstan’s biggest field has been an expensive flop. It is a problem for the country. Can Kashagan recover?

The consortium developing Kashagan is being ultra-conservative in its latest predictions in an effort not to add to the disappointments that have blighted the project. But another big disappointment – that the oilfield won’t produce the long-promised output of 1.5 million barrels a day (b/d) – hangs over the project.The latest news from Kashagan inevitably centred on the billions of dollars needed to get oil flowing from the field again. When it was discovered in 2000, the Caspian Sea field, which has recoverable oil reserves of about 13 billion barrels, was the largest oil find in 30 years. On 7 November, it emerged that the North Caspian Operating Company – a consortium of KazManaiGas, Eni