Astana expected to face challenges in meeting 2023 oil production goal
Оригинальный текст опубликован на сайте «Upstream», 29 November 2023 11:53 GMT . Автор: Материал доступен по .
Kazakhstan authorities have reported another round of oil production declines due to major storms in the Black Sea, with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s offshore tanker loading terminal near the Russian port of Novorossiysk remaining closed.
The Kazakh Energy Ministry said on Tuesday that the country’s oil and condensate production averaged 1.4 million barrels per day, down from 1.93 million bpd at the end of the last week because of the storms.
The consortium said on Wednesday that high waves in the area of the terminal’s three offshore buoys have made loading operations impossible.
It added that two tankers remain in the area and loading will begin as soon as sea conditions improve.
Caspian Pipeline Consortium runs a 1500-kilometre pipeline from western Kazakhstan to Novorossiysk. When fully operational, the terminal handles about 80% of Kazakhstan’s total oil exports and is capable of supplying more than 1% of global oil consumption.
It also acts as the major export route for Kazakhstan’s three giant foreign-led oil developments — Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak — which allowed it to gain an exemption from Western sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine last year.
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A spokesperson for the Energy Ministry said output from the country’s largest oil-producing venture, Chevron-led Tengizchevroil, has dropped to 296,000 bpd from 640,000 bpd because of the Black Sea storms.
The country’s second largest producer, the Eni-led Kashagan offshore development, had to reduce production by 38% to 251,000 bpd on Tuesday, according to the ministry.
Kazakh state oil pipeline operator Kaztransoil said in a statement on Wednesday that it agreed with Russia’s operator Transneft and the country’s third-largest oil producer Karachaganak to divert some 410,000 barrels of their output to Germany from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
Additionally, Kaztransoil agreed to store 420,000 barrels of crude produced by Karachaganak and Kashagan in its pipeline network system and export them via Russia to Germany during November.
The Black Sea storms had periodically interrupted Novorossiysk tanker-loading operations in the second half of November, leading to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s storage facilities at the terminal filling to their capacity of about 7.6 million barrels, according to earlier market reports.
Kazakh oil and gas social media channel Energy Monitor has estimated that the country’s producers will have to increase output to almost 2 million bpd and maintain it throughout December to fulfil the government’s goal of achieving average production of 1.88 million bpd for 2023.
A spokesperson for Caspian Pipeline Consortium was unable to comment on whether the operator will have to carry out inspection dives to verify the condition of the subsea infrastructure that feeds oil to the offshore loading buoys.
In February last year, the consortium was forced to halt operations at two of the terminal’s single-point mooring buoys after a prolonged storm damaged their subsea infrastructure.
The consortium later reported facing difficulties in sourcing spare parts for the necessary repairs because of the refusal of its Western suppliers to deliver them to the terminal in Russia, despite the operator being exempt from international sanctions.