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13 comments on Update on the 2007 CERA projects

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mw on October 14, 2005 - 5:45pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Doing this analysis is definitely given me a slightly awed sense of respect for the oil industry. They deliver dozens of new projects a year and each of those is a massive multi-billion dollar engineering project in enormously challenging conditions.

Bravo!

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Jerome a Paris on October 14, 2005 - 6:08pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Oh yeah. Kashagan (in the Kazakhstan part of the Caspian sea) is going to be a textbook example for years to come of the complexity of these projects (not sure in which year you put it in, but 2007 is possibly it)

  • extraordinarily high field pressure
  • very high sulfur content
  • located in shallow waters that are alternatively frozen, liquid (10m or so) or mud
  • the nearest town is 400 km away, and the nearest international airport 1,500 km away; winter lasts 10 months and summer is worse (mosquitoes and stifling heat)
  • you need to cross at least 2 countries to get the oil to any market
  • the sponsors include Shell, Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Total (plus others) as minority non-operating shareholders
  • China, Iran, Russia and the USA (well, the West) want the oil to come to (or via) them.

Should be fun to watch.
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Stuart Staniford on October 14, 2005 - 6:18pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Yes, and then there's the political environment in Kazakhstan itself. I have Kashagan for 2008 but the risks are considerable as you note. It is enormous, however.
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Dave Cohen on October 15, 2005 - 7:49pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Re: "the nearest town is 400 km away..."

It's not for nothing that the whole region is sometimes called pipelanistan....
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13 comments on Update on the 2007 CERA projects

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