Petrochemical
Nearly 100 billion! Sinopec Group invests in oil and gas exploration in Kazakhstan
Seetao 2025-07-03 15:47
  • Sinopec invested US$9 million in drilling in Kazakhstan, opening a new chapter in oil and gas exploration in Central Asia
Reading this article requires
8 Minute

In July 2025, Sinopec announced an investment of US$9 million to start drilling its first onshore exploratory well in Aktobe Oblast, Kazakhstan. This is another important layout of Sinopec in the field of oil and gas exploration in Central Asia, marking the expansion of China-Kazakhstan energy cooperation from traditional oil and gas field development to risk exploration.

Exploration breakthroughs in strategically important locations

The "Sarearka-1" well drilled this time is located in the oil and gas enrichment zone of western Kazakhstan, adjacent to the important pumping station of the China-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline. The geological structure of the area is complex, but exploration data suggests that light crude oil resources may be present. Sinopec has designed the well depth to be 4,500 meters with the self-developed "Xuanji" rotary directional drilling system and 3D seismic imaging technology, which is expected to reveal new oil and gas reservoirs in the region. Officials from the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan said that if the exploration is successful, the area could be included in the China-Kazakhstan production capacity cooperation framework, providing a new source of oil for the energy arteries of the two countries to transport 30 million tons of oil per year.

Technology empowers green exploration

The project team has innovatively applied a number of environmental protection technologies: the use of degradable drilling fluids to reduce soil pollution, the installation of a closed mud circulation system to achieve zero waste discharge, and the installation of real-time methane monitoring devices. These measures have reduced the carbon emissions of the project by 40% compared with traditional drilling, and it has obtained the "Green Exploration" certification of Kazakhstan. Sinopec also pledged to share exploration data with the Kazakh National Oil Company and help train 10 local deep exploration engineers, reflecting the cooperation concept of "joint development and technology sharing".

Deepen China-Kazakhstan energy cooperation

The exploration coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan's "Bright Road" New Economic Policy. In the past five years, China's investment in Kazakhstan's energy sector has reached US$12 billion, and this risk exploration marks the extension of cooperation to the upstream of the industrial chain. Industry experts point out that successful exploration can bring triple benefits: enhancing the stability of energy supply in Central Asia, optimizing the structure of Sinopec's overseas resource reserves, and accumulating experience for shale oil and gas cooperation between China and Caspian countries.

The general manager of Sinopec International Exploration Company said that the project is a key part of the company's "exploration-development-refining" whole industry chain strategy implemented in Kazakhstan. In the future, the commercial value will be assessed based on the exploration results, and the joint research center with Kazakhstan will be considered to extend the cooperation from resource extraction to energy technology innovation. In the context of the global energy transition, China and Kazakhstan are jointly exploring new paths for the clean development of fossil fuels through practical cooperation.(This article is from the official website of Seetao www.seetao.com. Reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited. Please indicate Seetao.com + original link when reprinting) Seetao.com Strategy Column Editor/Sun Fengjuan

Comment

Related articles

Petrochemical

195.75 billion RMB! Saudi Arabia and Indonesia sign petrochemical cooperation agreement

07-03

Petrochemical

7.7 billion US dollars, 1.25 million tons! Sinopec's new project begins construction

06-26

Petrochemical

$1.25 billion! China signed a large contract with Kazakhstan Petrochemical Co., Ltd

06-24

Petrochemical

2.122 billion! PetroChina won the bid for the Iraqi natural gas pipeline network project

06-09

Petrochemical

PetroChina deepens cooperation with Kazakhstan!

06-04

Petrochemical

Chinese oil companies signed a large-scale cooperation agreement with Iraq!

06-03

Collect
Comment
Share

Retrieve password

Get verification code
Sure