China secured access to vast oil
deposits in western Kazakhstan today after the energy-rich Central
Asian nation said it had completed the expansion of a major oil
pipeline to its eastern neighbour.
A Kazakh company in charge of the
project said the first test shipment of oil had been successfully
completed through the newly built Kenkiyak-Kumkol pipeline.
"The implementation of this project
will have tremendous influence on the whole oil and gas industry,
providing new opportunities for oil exports," KazStroyService said in a
statement.
The new link, which starts near the
Kenkiyak field operated by China's CNPC, gives China better access to
Kazakhstan's oil provinces in the west and follows Beijing's
intensified efforts to boost energy supplies from Central Asia.
The first phase of the pipeline, between central Kazakhstan and China's western Xinjiang region, was completed in 2006.
The latest link expands this pipeline to Caspian Sea oil fields.
Chinese oil companies such as CNPC own
stakes in several Kazakh oil producers, including CNPC-AktobeMunaiGaz,
the operator of Kenkiyak and Zhanazhol fields, and PetroKazakhstan,
which operates the Kumkol group of fields.
Kazakhstan, hit hard by the global economic crisis, has stepped up contacts with China for fresh investment.
Beijing further strengthened its
foothold in the former Soviet republic in April after it agreed to lend
Kazakhstan $10 billion in a "loan-for-oil" deal during Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbayev's visit.
As part of the deal, CNPC bought a
stake in MangistauMunaigas, a company whose fields are also close to
the starting point of the extended pipeline.
Kazakhstan and China agreed to build
the 3000 kilometre pipeline in 1997 and have said they would later
double the capacity of the combined pipeline from the current 10
million tonnes a year.
Kazakhstan, which produced 71 million
tonnes of oil last year, plans to double output within the next decade
and seeks to diversify its exports as well as sources of investment in
the industry dominated by Western oil majors.
China is also building a pipeline to import up to 40 billion cubic metres of Central Asian gas a year.
The link originates in Turkmenistan and goes through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Source: Port Engineering News; Cristina Gallardo