Chevron's investment in Kazakhstan's Tengiz field hits $20 bln
By Aynur Jafarova
The volume of investments of the U.S. Chevron company in the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan has amounted to $20 billion over 20 years.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev made the statement at a reception held to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tengizchevroil joint venture on Wednesday.
"Over 20 years, Chevron has invested $20 billion in the project to develop the Tengiz field and Kazakhstan made a profit of $77 billion," Nazarbayev said.
According to him, over these years thousands of Kazakh specialists were trained, Tengizchevroil's oil production increased 26-fold and the Central Asian state's economy has grown 16 times.
"$800 million has been invested in the social development of the Atyrau region where the Tengiz field is located. Today, Atyrau's regional centre is one of the beautiful cities of our country and we call it the oil capital of Kazakhstan," Nazarbayev said.
According to the Kazakh president, over 8,500 foreign companies are currently operating in the country with a total investment of more than $200 billion over 20 years.
"We have set a goal to enter the top 30 countries of the world by 2050 and are pleased that Chevron is involved in the development of our economy," the president said.
He recalled that Chevron is now involved not only in the development of the Tengiz field, but also in the major Kashagan project.
The Tengiz oil field was discovered in 1979 and is one of the deepest and largest oil fields in the world. The reserves of the Tengiz field are estimated at 750 million to 1.1 billion tons (6-9 billion barrels) of recoverable oil.
The Kashagan field is the largest oil field in the world after Prudo Bay in Alaska. Recoverable oil reserves of Kashagan are estimated at 11 billion barrels, whereas total geological raw material reserves stand at 35 billion barrels.
"It is very important to me that Chevron is successful in Kazakhstan and has proved to the world that it is possible to work successfully in the country,"Nazarbayev added.
Former Chevron chairman and CEO Kenneth Derr, attending the reception, termed the project on developing the Tengiz project as one signifying trust and partnership.
"I'm amazed at the success of the construction of Astana and the tremendous progress since my last visit to this city. Your capital underlines the success of your country. We believe that Kazakhstan will not dwell on the results achieved and we are proud that Chevron is a part of your success," Derr said.
Chevron CEO John Watson presented a bronze sculpture showing two oilworkers and a globe to the Kazakh president.
"This sculpture symbolizes our partnership with you," Watson said.
Tengizchevroil is a Kazakh-American joint corporation involved in exploration, development, production and marketing of crude oil and related products. Tengizchevroil is the largest oil producer in Kazakhstan.
The company was founded on April 6, 1993 by the Kazakh president and the Chevron company. The term of the agreement is 40 years.
Tengizchevroil produced 940,000 tons of crude oil in 1993, 1.8 million tons of oil in 1994 and the volume of salable oil totaled 8.4 million tons in 1998. In 1999, annual oil production amounted to 9.5 million tons. In 2000, 10.5 million tons of oil were produced and sold. In 2001, oil production totaled 12.48 million tons with an average daily production of 271,000 barrels and in 2008 production amounted to 17.3 million tons.
In 2009, Tengizchevroil reached record levels when production totaled 22.5 million tons. The company hit a new record in 2010, producing 25.9 million tons of oil.
The company employs 3,400 workers of whom about 85 percent are citizens of Kazakhstan.
Shareholders of Tengizchevroil are Chevron (50 percent), KazMunaiGas (20 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent) and LukArco (5 percent).