The economy of Kazakhstan is highly dependent on energy. Being the largest oilfield of the country, the Kashagan field bears strategic importance for the petroleum sector of Kazakhstan. The last three years are described by reduction of oil production from 81.8 million tons in 2013 to 80.8 million tons in 2014, to 79.4, 8 million tons in 2015 and expectedly to 75 million tons in 2016. Therefore, there was a decrease of oil output by 1.2% in 2014, 1.7% in 2015 and expectedly, 5.5% in 2016 on a year on year basis. In this light, the launch of the Kashagan project is anticipated to increase production levels avoiding further deterioration of the energy sector.
Saule Akhmetkaliyeva was a research fellow in the Eurasian Research Institute at H.A.Yassawi Kazakh Turkish International University. She holds a BS in petroleum engineering from the Kazakh National Technical University named after K.I. Satbayev and a MS in Environmental Science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with a GPA of 4.0. Saule has conducted research on new methods of matrix acidizing of carbonate formations in Karachaganak field, Kazakhstan for her bachelor’s degree, and a research on advanced sedimentary analysis of sediments from Marmara Gölü, Turkey for her master’s thesis.