Oil Production in Kazakhstan Reaches 85.7 Million Tons

In 2021, oil production in the country is going to reach 85.7 million tons in total; 67.6 million tons of oil were exported abroad during the year; 17.1 million tons were reprocessed and 13.1 million tons of oil products were produced, according to Magzum Mirzagaliyev, head of the Ministry of Energy.

As the minister reported the volume of production at Tengiz is going to reach 26.5 million tons of oil and 14.5 billion cubic meters of gas.

«There is a $45.2 billion Tengiz oil field expansion project underway. Once the project is done, the oil production will rise by 12 million tons a year. So far, the project expansion has been completed by 87%; it must be fully completed by 2023,» Mirzagaliyev said.

The volume of oil and gas production at Kashagan is 15.9 million tons and 9.7 billion cubic meters respectively. At Karachaganak these figures are 11.6 million tons and 18.7 billion cubic meters of gas respectively.

«There are several projects in Karachaganak that have been implemented which later can support the oil production about 11-12 million tons of oil per year,» he said.

Also, two big exploration projects at the Kalamkas-Sea and Khazar offshore oil fields will play a huge role for Kazakhstan over the next 10 years, according to the minister.

«Exploration operations on these sites worth $4.5 billion will allow us to produce about four million tons of oil starting from 2028», underlined Mirzagaliyev. 

«As the mature deposits of oil are exhausted, the importance of these new projects in the Mangystau region would surge», he said. 

Earlier this year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke about the problem. He said that the exhaustion of the current oilfields may reach a critical level by 2030. To avoid a potential lack of oil the president called for attraction of new investments into exploration and discovering new oil fields.