More oil drilling under way in Kazakhstan

A company specializing in Kazakhstan said Tuesday it is drilling in the Zhana Makat reserve area, targeting reserves more than 2,800 feet underground. Max Petroleum, which has headquarters in London, said in a May report it believed the Zhana Makat field holds about 1.3 million barrels of oil in proven reserves. The company said Monday it was targeting reserves in a shallow area of the Uytas field, which has about half the proven reserves as Zhana Makat, according to a report of the United Press International (UPI). The Kazakh Ministry of Oil and Gas ratified a two-year extension for the company's exploration campaign in May. Kazakhstan hosts the Kashagan oil field, one of the largest in the world, with as much as 16 billion barrels of estimated commercial reserves. Max said total production for the fiscal year ending March 31 was 3,366 barrels of oil per day, a 19 percent increase from the previous year.