Subsoil users show huge interest in oil fields

During the auction for a prospecting license at the Bozoba field in the Aktobe region, the license price skyrocketed to 300 times more expensive than the starting price.

The starting price for a land parcel of 132.14 square kilometers was $123,756. Over the course of the auction, it reached $37.9 million. The prospecting activity at the land can’t exceed six years for some parcels or nine years for parcels where implementing exploration is problematic.

The government has already closed auctions for nine out of 34 fields. In some cases, auctions are still in progress. For instance, the Severo-Pridorozhnoe field (the Mangystau region) of 3.48 square kilometers now costs $3.6 million, although its starting price was just about $65,000. Another 5.38 square kilometers field called Pustynnoe in the Atyrau region had a starting price of $343,200. Currently, it costs $3.8 million, which is not even the final price.

The Tazhigali Yugo-Zapadny field of 5.44 square kilometers in the Atyrau region costs $4 million, while its starting price was $301,948. The Mortuk Vostochny field of 12.22 square kilometers in the Aktobe had a starting price of $800,164. Now it costs $3.6 million. The Kamenistoe field of 81.03 square kilometers in the Mangystau region reported a current price of $6.3 million, although the starting price for the land was $1 million. The auctions haven’t finished yet because investors are showing a willingness to bet more and more money on these fields.

However, it seems that not every field sparks a big interest from investors. Thus, a 405.4-square-kilometer Murynsor field in the Mangystau region currently costs $59,751. Given that the starting price was $19,562, this is not such a big increase. The Prigranichnoe field of 61.5 square meters in the West Kazakhstan region had a starting price of $187,123 and was bought for $224,54.