Kashagan Field is an offshore oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

 located in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. The field is situated in the northern part of the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

 close to the Kazakhstan city of Atyrau

Atyrau

Atyrau , known as Guryev until 1991, is a city in Kazakhstan, and the capital of Atyrau Province. It is located at the mouth of the Ural River, 2700 kilometers west of Almaty and 350 kilometers east of the Russian city of Astrakhan. Other transliterations include Aterau, Atirau, Atyraw, Atyraou,...

. The field was discovered in 2000 and was one of the larger discoveries in that decade, it is estimated that the Kashagan Field has commercial reserves from 9 Goilbbl to 16 Goilbbl of oil. The field is offshore in a harsh environment, where sea ice is present in the winter and temperatures from -35 °C (-31 °F) to 40 °C (104 °F) can be encountered.