* Giant project has cost estimated $55 bln so far
* Missed oil price peak due to technical problems
* Analyst expects quick initial ramp up
* Further expansion only likely to begin in 2020s (Adds analyst comment)
By Raushan Nurshayeva
ASTANA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The first batches of oil fromKazakhstan's giant offshore Kashagan field were exported onFriday via two pipelines, the Energy Ministry said, confirmingthe $55 billion project was moving ahead as planned.
Energy firms developing the field in the central Asiancountry have shipped 7,700 tonnes of oil through the private CPCpipeline and 18,800 tonnes through a pipeline operated bystate-controlled firm KazTransOil, it said in a statement.
The ministry said start-up work and testing was continuingat the field and getting it into "stable operations mode willtake some time". Kashagan has also shipped 22.8 million cubicmetres of gas into the state-run gas pipeline system, it said.
Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said on Wednesday fourwells were producing a total of 90,000 barrels per day (bpd),although it was unclear how much was oil and how much was gas tobe shipped separately, flared or reinjected into the reservoir.
The field off Kazakhstan's Caspian coast has cost about $55billion to develop, according to Wood Mackenzie. It firststarted production in 2013 but output was suspended shortlyafterwards because of technical problems with the gas pipelines.
The NCOC consortium developing Kashagan is made up of ChinaNational Petroleum Corp, Exxon Mobil, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Inpex and KazMunaiGas.
Kashagan was initially expected to produce 75,000 barrelsper day (bpd) in October, rising to between 150,000 bpd and180,000 bpd in November and December.
FURTHER EXPANSION
Ashley Sherman, senior Russia and Caspian analyst at WoodMackenzie, said the next milestones for Kashagan would bereaching stabilised output at 75,000 bpd and then ramping it upto 100,000 bpd or more by the end of the year.
The third milestone and a key determinant of the project'slonger-term success will be the reinjection of sour gas into thereservoir, which is due to start six months after its launch.
Wood Mackenzie expects a fast increase in output at Kashaganphase one - the first stage of the project which is due to becompleted by the end of 2017 - with annual production averagingmore than 150,000 bpd in 2017 and 230,000 bpd in 2018.
But Wood Mackenzie said further expansion may take longer,even though Kazakhstan, hard hit by a fall in oil revenues dueto lower prices and facing output stagnation at many otherfields, wants to implement it as quickly as possible.
"You need a phase two for Kashagan to realise its fullpotential," Sherman said.
"(But) the decision making process on phase two is unlikelyto intensify until the end of the decade when the oil pricerecovers and there is data from phase one to justify expansion." (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by David Clarke)
