KazMunayGaz has agreed to restart the Zhenis offshore exploration project in the country’s sector of the Caspian Sea with project partner Lukoil.

Kazakh state owned oil producer and pipeline operator KazMunayGaz said that following executive chairman Magzum Mirzagaliyev’s meeting with Russia’s Lukoil in Moscow last week, both companies have agreed to spud a first wildcat on the block later in December.

The well will be drilled by Azerbaijan state-run Caspian Drilling Company’s jack-up rig Dada Gorgud, which has been idle near the Azeri capital of Baku since 2019 because of a lack of new assignments.