State-owned MazMunayGaz’s increased share in Kazakhstan’s largest offshore development masks continued production decline at subsidiary Ozenmunaygaz
Оригинальный текст опубликован на сайте «Upstream», 2 August 2023 12:25 GMT . Автор: Материал доступен по .
Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGaz has reported mixed operating performance in the first half of this year, failing to reverse a decline in oil production at its core subsidiary but receiving a boost from the foreign-led Kashagan offshore development in the Caspian Sea.
The state-controlled oil and gas company, which is a fourth-largest oil producer in Kazakhstan, said output at subsidiary Ozenmunaygaz continued a slow decline, falling by 1% to about 103,000 barrels per day between January and June against the same period of 2022.
Ozenmunaygaz, which operates the Ozen field and several other legacy deposits in the Mangistau region, is the largest of the three KazMunayGaz wholly operated subsidiaries in Kazakhstan.
Authorities in Astana have repeatedly urged KazMunayGaz to improve its oversight of Ozenmunaygaz after agency workers their grievances over contract terms near the offices of KazMunayGaz and the Energy Ministry in April.
Meanwhile, oil production at two other wholly operated units, Mangistaumunaygaz and Embamunaygaz — working at mainly depleted assets similar to the ones operated by Ozenmunaygaz — shot up by almost 5% to a total of 119,000 bpd, KazMunayGaz said.
The company is also reaping the benefit of its 16.9% equity interest in Kashagan — half of which was returned to KazMunayGaz at the end of last year — earning a significantly higher share of the project’s total output in 2023.
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KazMunayGaz said Kashagan, Kazakhstan’s largest offshore development, contributed more than 64,000 bpd to its total oil production to in the first half of this year against 25,000 bpd last year.
Coupled with a higher contribution from the Chevron-led Tengiz development, KazMunayGaz said its total oil production rose by over 10% to more than 495,000 bpd in the first half of this year compared with the first half of 2022.
The company exported the extra oil to global markets via Russian pipeline network Caspian Pipeline Consortium and a reopened a cross-Caspian tanker connection from the Kazakh port of Aktau to a receiving terminal near the Azeri capital, Baku.
In July, KazMunayGaz’ subsidiary KazTransOil — Kazakh’s oil pipeline operator — said that after several years of decline, KazMunayGaz and other oil producers suddenly grew their oil export shipments via the Atyrau–Samara pipeline link between Russia and Kazakhstan.
This link enables to international destinations, although in the transit Kazakh oil mixes with the Russian crude and becomes indiscernible from Russian heavy and sour blend crude oil, known as Urals.
Kazakh oil flows via Atyrau–Samara shot up by 17% to 205,000 bpd between January and June against the last year, while cross-Caspian shipments jumped by 58% to 66,000 bpd in this period, KazTransOil said.
Last year, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered KazMunayGaz and other producers in the country to consider committing higher export shipments to the cross-Caspian route and other destinations to reduce the country’s dependence on Russia as transit country.
Russia was hit by international sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
However, Kazakhstan has so far been excluded from any western restrictions despite reportedly serving as an alternative delivery route for international machinery and equipment to reach Moscow.