Kalamkas-Khazar Operating LLP (KKO), a joint venture equally owned by Russia’s Lukoil and Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas (KMG), remains on the U.S. sanctions list, according to the PACE Telegram channel.
At PACE’s inquiry, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that no official request has been submitted to remove the project from the sanctions list.
U.S. sanctions against Lukoil and its subsidiaries have reportedly extended to KKO, the operator of the Kalamkas-Sea and Khazar fields in Kazakhstan’s sector of the Caspian Sea, located about 120 kilometers from the Kashagan field.
KMG CEO Askhat Khassenov earlier said a final investment decision on the development of the Kalamkas-Sea and Khazar fields is expected by the end of 2025. The Ministry of Energy projects that Kalamkas-Khazar will begin production between 2028 and 2029.
At peak output, the project is expected to produce about 4 million tons of oil annually. Reserves at the Kalamkas-Sea block are estimated at 81 million tons of oil and 22 billion cubic meters of gas. Total investment in the project is estimated at roughly $6.4 billion.
Notably, only the Tengiz and Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) projects — where Lukoil partners with U.S. companies — have been exempted from sanctions.
