KazMunayGas suspended its joint fields development
The development of Kalamkas-Sea and Khazar offshore oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan sector of the Northern Caspian had been officially suspended – that was announced by Askhat Khasenov, Chairman of the Board of JSC NC KazMunayGas, during his videoconference with industry analysts. Reasons for the suspension were economic sanctions imposed on the project’s Russian partner PJSC Lukoil.
Due to these restrictive measures, Kalamkas-Khazar Operating LLP, a joint venture between KazMunayGas and Lukoil, has not begun dredging a shipping channel in the northeastern Caspian Sea through the Ural Saddle, which is necessary for delivering drilling platforms to the fields and for other logistical purposes. (The dredging was planned to begin in April 2026 and complete in July 2029. By 2030, approximately 35 wells were expected to have been drilled at the Kalamkas-Sea – Khazar oil and gas production site, according to preliminary data).
Lukoil could be replaced with another key investor, but this would create new difficulties, as the field development concept would have to be completely redesigned, the selection of contractors would have to be reconsidered, and substantial compensation would have to be paid to the Russian company. For these and other reasons, the project currently remains “frozen.”
On the map-scheme: the Kalamkas-Sea – Khazar oil and gas production site (a red boundary); planned shipping channels, and protected areas of Kazakhstan. Source: Environmental Impact Assessment Report “Construction of a marine shipping canal through the Ural Saddle for the development of oil fields” (download the EIA Report in Russian).
The Kalamkas-Sea – Khazar oil and gas production site is located within the boundaries of the State Nature Reserved Zone in Northern Part of the Caspian Seal, a marine protected area, and near the Caspian Seal State Nature Reserve – that is informed in Kalamkas-Khazar Operating’s EIA report. The reserve was established in March 2025 by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s order to protect and restore the endangered Caspian seal population.
Caspian seals, a female seal with her pup, the Ural Saddle, the northern Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan. Author Sarah Del Benn. Credited by CAIER.
The Kalamkas-Sea, Khazar fields, and the shipping channel to service them will directly affect breeding and migration areas recognised as important internationally, including the Caspian seal Breeding EBSA (Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas, designated under the Convention on Biological Diversity), and the Caspian Seal Breeding Area IMMA, and Caspian Seal Transitory Migration and Feeding Area IMMA (IMMA – Important Marine Mammal Areas identified by the IUCN Joint SSC-WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force).
Open letters about the critical need to ensure the survival and recovery of the Caspian seal population were sent by the President of the international Society for Marine Mammalogy to the Ministry of Energy, Fisheries Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan (read more).
In the top photo: a Caspian seal pup, the Ural Saddle, the northern Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan. Author Zhanarbek Amankulov. Credited by CAIER.