Kazakhstan Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov said on Friday oil output had reached almost full capacity at the largest oilfield of Tengiz, after it was hit by a power outage at the end of January. A production decline at Chevron-led Tengiz caused a fall in Kazkhastan's oil exports and boosted global oil prices.
"Production has practically reached full capacity, some adjustments are still being made," the minister told reporters. Oil exports from Kazakhstan this year are expected to be on par with 2025 levels, he added, while there have been no issues with exports from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which pumps oil to the Black Sea.
On Wednesday two industry sources told Reuters production at Tengiz was recovering more slowly than planned because of disruption from bad weather and drone alerts at the CPC Black Sea marine terminal in Russia.
After transformer fires in January at Tengiz, Kazakhstan has been restoring production at the world's deepest producing "supergiant" oilfield but came up against constraints on the CPC.
Oil production at Tengiz increased to 790,000 barrels per day (bpd) by February 24, up from 660,000 bpd the previous day, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the situation. But that was still short of the previously planned level of 950,000 bpd, the sources said.
Reuters calculations show current output at Tengiz is 17 per cent below the forecast.
(Reporting by Tamara Vaal; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)