Friday, May 04, 2012 -
Hungary’s MOL will invest $250 million in an oil production project in oil-rich Kazakhstan, following talks between Hungarian politicians visiting the Kazakh capital Astana on Thursday.
“This will take our total investment to $350 million and we expect production to start in 2015,” Hungarian business newspaper Portfolio.hu reported the chairman and CEO of MOL as saying.
MOL has explored 200 million barrels of oil in 2011, and has been investing in the Kazakh economy since the early 1990s.
The Hungarian firm is confident that it will be able to conclude exploration by 2014, after which the $250 million will needed to drill the wells.
Peak production of the interested deposit is expected to reach 110 to 120 million barrels in 2019-2020, MOL says, and will increase Hungary’s general energy security.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, along with other Hungarian officials, is in Kazakhstan for trade talks.
“We believe Kazakhstan will eventually determine the fate of this region,” Orban said, as quoted by the Kazinform.kz news agency.