The operator of Tengiz, the biggest oilfield in Kazakhstan, on Friday said it is investigating an incident from Wednesday, which has not interrupted supply.
The field, operated by a Chevron-led consortium, has not stopped oil production, sources told Reuters.
Uninterrupted operations at Tengiz, which has the capacity to produce as much as 950,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, would be crucial for global oil supply at these times in which about 10% of daily oil supply is already shut in by the producers in the Middle East, while millions of barrels of crude and products cannot reach their destinations with the blockage at the Strait of Hormuz.
“The company is assessing the root cause in line with established processes,” Tengizchevroil, the operator of Tengiz, said in a statement on Friday carried by Reuters.
The field has seen major production setbacks this year, with supply further strangled by bottlenecks at the export terminals on the Russian Black Sea coast.
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The huge Tengiz field was forced to shut down in January, following a fire at the site that damaged critical power supply.
Since then, the field has resumed operations and has been gradually raising production.
However, the pace of the ramp-up has been slowed due to severe storms in the Black Sea terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which handles most of Kazakhstan’s crude oil exports.
Alerts of potential drone strikes from Ukraine on the energy infrastructure on the Russian Black Sea coast have also disrupted loading schedules and forced the Tengiz field to hold off ramp-ups as storage tanks have filled.
These factors have prevented Tengiz from reaching peak production on February 23, as initially planned.
Tengizchevroil’s shareholders include Chevron with a 50% stake, ExxonMobil with 25%, Kazakhstan’s state oil and gas firm KazMunayGaz with a 20% interest, and Russian Lukoil with 5%.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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