FACTBOX-Facts about Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan

May 12 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan threatened on Monday to slap sanctions on a Western consortium developing the giant Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea should its operators decide to delay its start of production again.

To see a story on the latest twist in the Kashagan dispute, please click on [ID:nL12562808].

Here are some facts about Kashagan:

* Kashagan is considered to be the most important oil find since the discovery of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in the 1960s.

* The Caspian Sea is an enclosed water body fed by over 100 large and small rivers. The northern coastal part is home to protected species of fauna and flora and a nature reserve. It is an area of spawning for fish, including the Beluga sturgeon, and a conservation area for bird nesting and feeding.

* Kashagan is in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, 80 km (50 miles) southeast of the Kazakh city of Atyrau. It extends over a surface of approximately 75 km (47 miles) x 45 km (30 miles) and is named after a 19th century Kazakh poet.

* It holds an estimated 38 billion barrels of oil-in-place of which 13 billion are potentially recoverable with the use of gas re-injection. Kazakhstan plans to triple its oil output in 15 years with the field, becoming a key source of non-OPEC oil for the European Union.

* The climate is extreme and subject to drastic variations. Winters are harsh and temperatures can drop to -40 degrees Celsius (-40 degrees Fahrenheit), while summer temperatures can reach +40 degrees C (+104 degrees F).

* The waters are only 3-4 metres deep near Kashagan. The sea waters are frozen for 4-5 months, from November to March, and the ice thickness averages about 0.6 to 0.7 metres.