Capstone bags first of possible bigger order for microturbines from Kazakhstan oil producer

Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ:CPST) said Monday that its distribution partner, TOO Synergy Astana, sold the first of potentially five C1000s for multiple gas-to-energy projects to a local oil and gas producer in western Kazakhstan.

The Van Nuys, California-based maker of microturbines said the customer’s decision to expand from 1 megawatt to 5 megawatts hinges primarily on how the first C1000 microturbine to be installed this summer performs.

In addition to this C1000 order, TOO Synergy Astana secured an order last October for three C65 microturbines for the expansion of an existing Kazakhstan pipeline project. As a continuously growing project, the pipeline already depends on 60 Capstone microturbine systems, which includes two C800s for remote on-site power.

READ: Capstone Turbine scores long-term rental deal with oil and gas exploration company in Alaska

Kazakhstan holds an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil reserves, along with 1.1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It is among the top 15 countries based on the size of its oil reserves.

Most of Kazakhstan’s hydrocarbon reserves are located in the regions of Kashagan, Tengiz and Karachaganak. The Kashagan field, discovered in 2000, is one of the largest oilfield discoveries in recent decades.

To reach its potential as a global energy player, Kazakhstan is working to maintain a fine balance between the economic interests of its two powerful neighbors, Russia and China. Chinese energy demand continues to surge upwards and will reportedly consume Kazakhstan’s robust hydrocarbons output for the foreseeable future.

“We are beginning to see the positive results from all the hard work of our new Kazakhstan distribution partner as part of our multi-year reorganization effort for the CIS region for both the oil and gas market and the combined heat and power market,” said Capstone Turbine CEO Darren Jamison.

Jamison said Capstone had switched from one distribution partner covering multiple verticals, to multiple partners for the company’s “three major verticals” for the distribution of its product and services in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region which includes 10 post-Soviet republics in Eurasia formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Latent demand 

With sustained higher oil prices and improving economic conditions, the CIS region is again adopting clean microturbine technology to replace an aging and sometimes-unreliable grid. The company noted that there are new associated gas-to-energy opportunities in the oil and gas market in areas such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as some of the world’s longest oil and gas pipelines continue to expand.

“We are seeing a recovery in the CIS region as the market for our solution is increasingly showing new opportunities,” said Jim Crouse, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Capstone Turbine.  

According to the management team at TOO Synergy Astana, the end-use Kazakhstan energy company said they selected Capstone’s clean-energy microturbine as it didn’t require lubricants and coolants, was easy to maintain, had ultra-low exhaust emissions, and ability to operate in a wide range of power output.

“The reliability of Capstone clean energy products, in some of the most remote and harsh environments in the world, makes Capstone the go-to solution in the CIS region,” said Crouse.

Capstone offers a product lineup of microturbines that can produce anywhere from 30 kilowatts to 10 megawatts of power, operating on a variety of gaseous or liquid fuels. To date, Capstone has shipped over 9,000 units to 73 countries.

Contact Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive 

Story by ProactiveInvestors