World's Energy

18 September, 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Italian giant Eni is aiming to start production at the Kashagan oilfield, in Kazakhstan in 2012, despite agreeing with the Kazakh government that start-up could be delayed until 2013. Jason Kenney, an oil analyst with ING who is part of an analysts' field trip to Kazakhstan organised by Eni, said in an email to Reuters that presentation material said Eni was "committed to 2012 first oil from Kashagan". An Eni spokeswoman confirmed the report, telling UpstreamOnline.com: "This is correct." Eni heads the AgipKCO consortium, which is developing the field, in the Kazkh sector of the Caspian Sea. The field, discovered in 2000, was originally due on stream in 2005. But the consortium and the government agreed to move the launch to 2008 and then 2010 due to technical difficulties. The AgipKCO consortium comprises Eni, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, ConocoPhillips, KazMunaiGas and Japan's Inpex Holdings.