Chinese company to develop Kazakhstan’s largest shale and tight gas reserve

Kazakh Invest and Geo Jade Petroleum Corporation signed a memorandum to facilitate 7.8 billion US dollars investments into the exploration and development of the field.

While proven reserves of unconventional gas valued at 100 billion cubic meters in Kazakhstan, the preliminary estimates indicate the total production could reach up to one trillion cubic meters of gas at the Sozak field.

According to Kazakh Invest Chairman Sultangali Kinzhakulov, the project will involve an international consortium with the participation of Qatari and Chinese investors. Currently, the project is at the exploration stage. Investors outlined their 250 million US dollars investment plan for 2026 to confirm reserves, including tight gas, coalbed methane, and shale gas, for further processing into commercial gas.

Kinzhakulov noted that production of hard-to-recover and unconventional gas is a new area for Kazakhstan, as the country lacks the technology development, while the U.S. and China remaining the dominant forces.

Kazakh Invest said that Kazakhstani citizens will make up at least 90% of the enterprise’s workforce, providing up to 2,000 jobs at the initial stage, and 7,000 jobs upon reaching full production capacity. Additionally, the investors took on the obligation to train local personnel in technologies, as well as purchase goods and services from the domestic market.

Kinzhakulovr assured that the technologies do not harm the environment and have been used for many years by the U.S. and China.

Huanlong Chen, Chairman at Geo-Jade Petroleum Corp, said that the company is ready to increase finances and efforts to develop the Sozak field, while also seeking support from Kazakh authorized bodies.

The Chinese company has invested up to 3 billion US dollars in Kazakhstan’s major energy projects for over a decade.

Earlier, Qazinform reported Kazakhstan, China start developing the Shymkent Oil Refinery expansion project.