Kazakhstan exceeded its Opec+ crude production target by almost 280,000 b/d in February, driven by a surge in output from its Tengiz oil field.
Kazakhstan's crude production rose by 297,000 b/d to 1.747mn b/d in February, deputy energy minister Alibek Zhamauov said today, putting it 279,000 b/d above its Opec+ target of 1.468mn b/d. "We fully understand we are overproducing. The main reason is that we expected [new] Tengiz production in the middle of the year, however international shareholders decided to start up in January," Zhamauov said.
The Chevron-led Tengiz oil project launched a third crude production plant in January. This helped boost Tengiz production to 878,000 b/d in February, compared with about 500,000 b/d in mid-January — although part of the increase is explained by the completion of maintenance at another crude unit at Tengiz.
Zhamauov reiterated a previous pledge to cut production at other fields to offset the rise in Tengiz output. "It's not so easy to cut the production of all the oil fields, especially when we have international shareholders, so we are in a negotiation process with them," he said.
The rest of Kazakhstan's crude production is from the 400,000 b/d Kashagan field and the 250,000 b/d Karachaganak field, as well as smaller fields operated by other firms including state-controlled Kazmunaigaz. Like Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak are operated by international consortia.
Kazakhstan remains one of the Opec+ alliance's largest overproducers, despite repeatedly pledging to compensate for exceeding its target since January 2024. This has frustrated other Opec+ members who have largely stuck to their production targets.
"We will be putting in all our efforts to compensate during the year," Zhamauov said.
Opec+ members, including Kazakhstan, agreed this week to proceed with a plan to start unwinding 2.2mn b/d of voluntary production cuts starting in April.
Zhamauov confirmed that Kazakh crude flows through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) have not been affected by a drone attack on a Russian part of the line in February. He added that repair work will take about two months but have no impact on Kazakh production.
Kazakhstan's crude exports were 1.39mn b/d in February, up from 1.073mn b/d in January, while refinery runs were 348,000 b/d, up by 48,000 b/d, Zhamauov said. Condensate production was 278,000 b/d in February, compared with 271,000 b/d in January, he added. This brings Kazakhstan's total liquids production in February to 2.025mn b/d, in line with its target of increasing production by 10pc to 2mn b/d this year.
