AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan is planning to develop a new offshore field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea,the country’s Energy Ministry told Trend news agency.

Energy Ministry said it is jointly working with the country’s national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas to obtain a license to develop the Tsentralnoye (Central) offshore oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea.

KazMunaiGas, and Russia’s Gazprom and Lukoil companies are the authorized organizations in charge of the development of the Tsentralnoye project.

A supplementary exploration is set to be conducted on the Tsentralnoye field to minimize the geological risks.

In 2013, KazMunaiGas and TsentrKaspneftegaz, the shareholders of which are Lukoil and Gazprom, established a joint venture that should obtain an exploration and production license to hold a supplementary exploration.

However, in order to obtain the license, it is necessary to amend the agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan signed back on July 6, 1998, as this document stipulates the conclusion of a production sharing agreement (PSA).

Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry, together with KazMunaiGas, is working to prepare the needed package of documents for signing a draft protocol on amending the mentioned agreement concerning the Tsentralnoye field’s development.

The ministry is also working to coordinate the package with the Kazakh government bodies.

The coordination of the draft protocol on amending the mentioned agreement was completed by the Russian government bodies in September 2014.

In 2002, Kazakhstan and Russia drew boundaries between their sectors in the Caspian Sea, and set three border structures, namely, Kurmangazy, Khvalynsk and Tsentralnoye.