MOSCOW (Reuters) -Kazakhstan’s oil output fell in the first two weeks of April by 3% from the March average, the energy ministry said on Monday, confirming a Reuters report, but is still above the OPEC+ quota it has pledged to meet after months of overproduction.
Several other members of the OPEC+ group, including top producer Saudi Arabia, have been angered by Kazakhstan’s rising output, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters last month.
The central Asian country’s crude production, excluding gas condensate, was down 3% in April 1-13 from the March average at about 1.82 million barrels per day due to a decrease at the Chevron-led Tengiz field, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Kazakhstan’s energy ministry confirmed the scale of the drop, but did not provide specific figures and declined to comment on which companies contributed to the decrease, referring further queries to those companies.
The fall still leaves Kazakhstan’s output on course to exceed its OPEC+ quota of 1.473 million bpd for April.
Kazakhstan, a top-10 oil producer, has persistently exceeded quotas set by OPEC+, an alliance between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers led by Russia, leading to complaints from other members of the group.
According to OPEC data, Kazakhstan’s crude production increased by 37,000 bpd in March.
The energy ministry said on Thursday that Kazakhstan would fulfil its commitments in April and partially compensate for earlier overproduction, according to Interfax news agency.
Several Western oil majors, such as Chevron, Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies and Eni, are active in Kazakhstan.
A production boost at the Chevron-led Tengiz oilfield, Kazakhstan’s largest, has been the main contributor to the country’s overall increase in oil output.
The source said daily output at Tengiz declined in April 1-13 to 111,000 metric tons (884,000 barrels) from March’s average of 119,340 tons (950,000 barrels).
Chevron declined immediate comment.
CPC
Kazakhstan has also faced challenges in exporting its oil, as the main pipeline, operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, has been beset by drone attacks and wrangling over terminal equipment at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorosssiisk.
Russia has said a CPC pumping station in the south of the country was attacked by a Ukrainian drone in February, while in March, a nearby oil depot was set ablaze also following a suspected Ukrainian drone strike.
Russia also restricted CPC’s exporting capacity at the Black Sea, which was partially restored last week.
According to two industry sources and Reuters’ calculations, CPC increased oil pumping in March by 0.6% on a daily basis from February to 6.602 million metric tons (1.69 million barrels per day).
Kazakhstan has said oil exports via the CPC pipeline have not been interrupted.
(Reporting by Reuters. Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Potter)
