Kazakhstan: Tengiz supergiant oilfield nearing capacity

Kazakhstan?Energy minister Erlan Akkenzhenov announced on Friday that oil production had almost reached full capacity in the largest oilfield, Tengiz. This was after the oilfield suffered a power failure at the end January.

The decline in production at Tengiz, a Chevron-led project, caused Kazkhastan to reduce its oil exports. It also boosted the global oil price.

The minister told reporters that "production has almost reached its full capacity. Some adjustments are still being made."

He added that oil exports this year from Kazakhstan are expected to be "on par" with levels in 2025, and there has been no problem with exports?from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which pumps oil into the Black Sea.

Two industry sources said that on Wednesday, production at Tengiz had recovered more slowly than expected due to disruptions caused by bad weather and drone alerts received at the CPC Black Sea Marine terminal in Russia.

Kazakhstan is restoring production after transformer fires at Tengiz in January, but has run into 'constraints with the CPC.

Two anonymous sources said that oil production in Tengiz had increased to 790,000.00 barrels per day by the 24th of February, up from 660,000.000 bpd on the previous day.

Sources said that this was still below the previously planned level, which was 950,000 bpd. Calculations show that current production at Tengiz falls 17% short of the forecast. (Reporting and writing by Tamara Vaal, Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Jacqueline Wong).

(source: Reuters)