Tengizchevroil planning to diversify oil export routes
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan’s Tengizchevroil (TCO) LLP intends to diversify its oil export routes, the company’s Deputy General Manager for Government Affairs and Public Relations David McInnis told Trend Agency on December 23.
“TCO’s crude oil marketing strategy is focused mainly on maintaining diversified transportation options to provide its customers with safe, reliable and cost-effective market access for oil that meets their needs,” he said.
However, he didn’t specify the possible routes and refused to comment on commercial matters citing the confidentiality of information.
McInnis also noted TCO is looking for ways to maximize the share of its product sales to benefit its owners, including Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan, one of the five Central Asian countries, is rich with hydrocarbon reserves. The Tengiz oil field was discovered in 1979. It is one of the deepest and largest oil fields in the world. Its oil reserves are estimated at 750 million to 1.1 billion tons (6-9 billion barrels) of recoverable oil.
The Tengiz field is developed by the TCO. The TCO is engaged in developing Kazakhstan's Tengiz and Korolev oil fields involved in the exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil and related products. The company is the largest oil producer in Kazakhstan, founded on April 6, 1993 by the Kazakh president and the Chevron Company.
TCO shareholders are Chevron (50 percent), KazMunaiGas (20 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent) and LukArco (5 percent).
TCO currently supplies oil all around the world mainly via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system. Its marketing policy is based on three important points: oil transportation safety, reliability of terminals and refineries that receive Tengiz's oil, and export diversification.
TCO exports crude oil through various routes; it exports oil to Novorossiysk via the CPC pipeline, and to Odessa, Taman, Aktau and further to Batumi and Kulevi, via a railway. The direct payments to Kazakhstan amounted to $7.7 billion in the first half of 2014.
Tengizshevroil, the largest oil producing enterprise in Kazakhstan, produced around 27.1 million tons of oil in 2013, which was 8 percent more compared to 2012.