Kazakhstan Plans to Increase Oil and Gas Exploration Drilling to 120 Wells per Year

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy has announced arrangements for oil and gas exploration and appraisal drilling: the number of exploration and appraisal wells nationwide is expected to be approximately 80 in 2026, and is planned to increase to a maximum of approximately 120 wells per year in 2027–2028. The arrangements were presented by Yerlan Akbarov, Vice Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan, on September 4 at the KAZDRILLING 2026 conference held in Atyrau. The additional wells will focus on sedimentary basins with a low degree of oil and gas exploration.

For these under-explored areas, Kazakhstan has adjusted the procedure for obtaining subsoil blocks. After the Ministry of Energy receives a block application, it will organize an auction within 10 working days. After obtaining a block, the work program requires the company to complete seismic exploration covering no less than 30% of the block area within the first three years, after which it enters the exploration well drilling stage. This arrangement incorporates block acquisition, seismic data acquisition, and actual well drilling into a continuous exploration implementation process.

The 80 and 120 wells announced this time are both on an "exploration and appraisal well" basis, mainly used for the discovery of new oil and gas resources and further appraisal of already discovered structures, and do not belong to the conventional production well plans of the oilfield development stage. The Ministry of Energy combines the new drilling focus with under-explored sedimentary basins, and currently has not further broken down the above well numbers to specific basins, blocks, or oil and gas companies.

Drilling services and equipment supply were also included in the topics of this conference. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy disclosed that local enterprises in Atyrau already have the manufacturing capacity for drill bits, reamers, and other drilling tools; the KAZDRILLING 2026 conference also covers geological exploration, seismic exploration, drilling, workover, enhanced oil recovery, development of hard-to-recover reserves, as well as procurement and localization. The conference was organized by KazService and supported by the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan and the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs.