Tengizchevroil seeks alternative oil export routes
By Aynur Jafarova
The Tengizchevroil Consortium (TCO), which develops Kazakhstan's
Tengiz and Korolev oil fields, seeks alternative routes to export
its oil, Kazenergy Association quoted TCO CEO Tim Miller as
saying.
In particular, Tengizchevroil plans to resume oil transportation
through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which was stopped
in 2008.
According to Miller, negotiations with Azerbaijan's state energy
company SOCAR and BTC consortium on this issue is underway.
Furthermore, within its diversification policy, TCO intends to
resume oil supplies to the Asian markets.
However, Miller did not specify which route would be used to transport oil to these markets.
Currently Tengizchevroil supplies oil all around the world
mainly via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system.
According to Miller, TCO's marketing policy is based on three
important points: oil transportation safety, reliability of
terminals and refineries taking the Tengiz oil and export
diversification.
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.
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.
The company employs 3,400 workers of whom 85 percent are citizens of Kazakhstan.
Shareholders of Tengizchevroil are Chevron (50 percent), KazMunaiGas (20 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent) and LukArco (5 percent).