Tengizchevroil LLP hits record high by producing 27 million tons of oil in 2013 (+update)

Tengizchevroil LLP produced 27 million tons of oil in the Atyrau region in 2013, inform.kz reports, citing the company's press service.

This is a record level of crude output for the Kazakh oil giant that commenced the development of the Tengiz oil field back in 1993. Tengizchevroil's production output traditionally amounts to 24-25 million tons per year.

In late 2013, Tengizchevroil announced its plans to expand production capacity and increase yearly output by 36 million tons.

Output from Chevron-led Tengizchevroil (TCO), Kazakhstan's largest oil producer, rose to a record 27.1 million tonnes last year from 24.2 million in 2012, TCO General Director Tim Miller said on Monday, reuters reports.

The huge Tengiz onshore field in western Kazakhstan is one of the three main drivers of Kazakhstan's conservative plan to raise oil output to at least 100 million tonnes by 2020.

Output this year from the Central Asian nation, the second-largest post-Soviet oil producer after Russia, is forecast to rise to 83 million tonnes from 81.7 million in 2013.

"In 2013, TCO achieved record production of 27.1 million tonnes," Miller told a meeting of Kazakhstan's Oil & Gas Ministry. "Last year's TCO payments to Kazakhstan totalled just under $15 billion. This, too, is a new record for TCO."

TCO makes payments to the government budget and to the National Fund, which collects revenue from windfall oil exports.

TCO's future growth project for Tengiz, being implemented now, will increase oil production at the field by about 12 million tonnes per year, Miller said, reiterating an earlier estimate.

He earlier had said the project would aim to start producing more oil in 2018 to 2019.

Chevron holds 50 percent of TCO, while Exxon Mobil owns 25 percent, Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas 20 percent and Lukarco, controlled by Lukoil, the remaining 5 percent.

Besides Tengiz, Kazakhstan plans to boost crude output by developing the Kashagan offshore field in the Caspian and by an expansion of the Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field.

Output at Kashagan, the world's biggest oil find in decades, was launched in September but halted in early October after leaks were detected in a gas pipeline running from the deposit.

A consortium developing Kashagan expects to get the results of pipeline tests next month and determine when output can be resumed safely.