Kazakhstan, Astana, April 16 /Trend D.Mukhtarov/
JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (KMG EP) announces that in the first three months of 2012 it produced 3,029 thousand tones of crude oil (249kbopd), including the Company's stakes in Kazgermunai (KGM), CCEL and PetroKazakhstan Inc. (PKI) which is 143 thousand tones or 5 percent less than in the same period of 2011, said in a statement issued on Monday.
Uzenmunaigas (UMG) produced 1,236 thousand tones (101kbopd), which is 177 thousand tones less than in the same period of 2011. Embamunaigas (EMG) produced 675 thousand tones (55kbopd), which is 6 thousand tones less than in the same period of 2011. The total volume of the oil produced at the production facilities of UMG and EMG in the first three months of 2012 is 1.911 million tones of oil (156kbopd), which is 182 thousand tones or 9 percent less than in the same period of 2011and about 150 thousand tones (7%) behind the plan, primarily due to adverse weather conditions in Western Kazakhstan.
KMG EP will do everything possible to increase level of production and meet the production targets for UMG and EMG have been set at 5,800 thousand tonnes and 2,815 thousand tonnes respectively. Taking into account the results of first quarter these targets may be more challenging than previously anticipated.
In the middle of the year, taking into account the dynamics of production in the second quarter, KMG EP intends to confirm or clarify the annual production forecast for 2012.
KMG EP's share in the production from KGM, CCEL and PKI for the three months of 2012 amounted to 1.119 million tones of crude oil (93kbopd) which is 39 thousand tones or 4 percent more than in the same period of 2011. In the first three months of 2012 the Company's export and domestic sales from the Uzenmunaigas and Embamunaigas production facilities were 1,496 thousand tonnes (122kbopd) and 442 thousand tonnes (36kbopd) respectively.
KMG EP's share in the sales from KGM, CCEL and PKI was 1.105 million tones of crude oil (93kbopd), including 766 thousand tones (64kbopd) or 68 percent supplied to export markets. PKI sales volumes include sales of oil products produced from the crude oil purchased under swap arrangements with third parties.
KMG EP is among the top three Kazakh oil and gas producers. The overall production in 2011 was 12.3 million tones (an average of 250 kbopd) of crude oil, including the Company's share in Kazgermunai, CCEL and PKI. The total volume of proved and probable reserves, as at the end of 2011 was 226 million tones (1.7 billion barrels), including shares in the associates of about 2.1 bn barrels. The Company's shares are listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the GDRs are listed on The London Stock Exchange. The Company raised over US$2bn in its IPO in September 2006. The International rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) confirmed KMG EP's "BBB-" corporate credit rating in December 2011 and "GAMMA-6" rating in September 2011.