MOL (Hungarian Oil and Gas PLC), as part of the international joint venture Ural Oil and Gas LLP., has started producing gas from the U-21 well in the Rozhkovsky field in Kazakhstan. The successful production launch is the result of close cooperation between Hungarian, Kazakh, and Chinese partners. The gas and condensate project at the Rozhkovsky field is operated by Ural Oil and Gas LLC, a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas (50 percent), Hungary’s MOL Group (27.5 percent), and China’s FIOC (22.5 percent). The gas field was discovered in 2008, and following a thorough delineation and planning phase, gas production started on December 19, 2023. The field is located in the West Kazakhstan region, 60 km northeast of the city of Uralsk. The amount of recoverable gas and condensate from the currently targeted reservoir is equivalent to 158.8 million barrels, of which are 101.5 million barrels of gas and 57.3 million barrels of condensate, according to the Kazakhstan State Mineral Resources Balance. Of the nine wells drilled during the exploration phase, five were successfully brought to production in 2021. The design, procurement, and construction contract was signed in April 2022, covering all elements of the surface infrastructure. The first well will start producing 300,000 cubic meters of gas per day, which will be transported to the Chinarevskoye gas plant for processing. MOL expects the initial one-way test production phase at the Rozhkovsky field to contribute around 1,300 barrels per day, equivalent to the group’s production.

Four additional wells are scheduled to come into production in the third quarter of 2024, which could increase the field’s production to 1.5 million cubic meters per day. The second phase will continue with further well works, drilling of new wells, expansion of infrastructure, and an increase in production capacity to 2.5 million cubic meters per day by the end of 2027.