KMG head: No need to dramatize oil production decline at Tengiz

The oil production shortfall at Kazakhstan's Tengiz field is 10,000 tons per day, and production should reach target levels in the near future, KazMunayGas (KMG) National Company head Askhat Khasenov said at a press conference on Friday, according to Report's Kazakhstan bureau.

"Tengiz will meet its oil production plan for the current year regardless. It will be around 27 million tons or even slightly more, despite the Ministry of Energy's announced shutdown on Monday due to repairs at some facilities," said Khasenov.

The company head believes there's no need to dramatize the situation, as the production shortfall today is 10,000 tons per day. "Unfortunately, this happens in production. But in any case, this is not a dramatic situation. The production decline was not total. Today's shortfall is only 10,000 tons per day. They should reach the target level in the near future," he noted.

He emphasized that despite the shutdown, oil production at Tengiz has already reached 90% of the 2024 plan.

On Monday, November 18, the Ministry of Energy announced an almost 30% reduction in oil production at the Tengiz field, which provides one-third of Kazakhstan's production.

The reason for the shutdown, as indicated by the ministry, was "local through-corrosion damage" discovered during equipment inspection, resulting in a daily reduction of 61,000-63,000 tons. The ministry noted that "repair work to address corrosion damage is planned to be completed by November 23 this year."

Earlier, a month and a half ago, Tengizchevroil LLP officially announced the completion of planned capital repairs at the field.

The Tengiz oil and gas field is one of the largest in Kazakhstan, with oil reserves of 3.1 billion tons.