ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakhstan has been in talks with oil producers about reducing output, which has been above the country’s OPEC+ quota, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday citing the energy ministry.
Kazakhstan has been pumping oil above the limit agreed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Russia for months.
OPEC+ members have been pressing Kazakhstan to reduce output to honour the agreed quotas.
Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said on Thursday that the country exceeded its OPEC+ quota in March but will fulfil its commitments in April and partially compensate for earlier overproduction, according to Interfax.
Numerous Western majors, such as Chevron, Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies and Eni, are active in Kazakhstan, a top 10 global oil producer.
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.
Interfax also cited the energy ministry as saying that Kazakhstan did not cut oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) last month.
According to industry sources, expected Black Sea CPC Blend oil exports for April were revised down. The pipeline’s infrastructure suffered from Ukrainian drone attacks in February and March. Russia also restricted CPC’s exporting capacity at the Black Sea, which was partially restored earlier this week.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
