OPEC forecasts oil production growth in Kazakhstan

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 8
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakhstan will increase oil production to 1.7 million barrels of oil per day in 2014 compared to 1.6 million barrels of oil per day on 2012 and 2013, OPEC's November oil market report says.

Kazakhstan's oil production is forecasted at 1.8 million barrels of oil per day in 2015 and at 1.9 million barrels of oil per day in 2016-2018.

According to OPEC, Kazakhstan sees a slower growth in this year's medium- term Reference Case compared to last year's Outlook, when crude oil and NGLs production was projected to reach 2.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2016.

"The current Outlook sees production in Kazakhstan increasing from 1.6 million barrels of oil per day in 2012 to 1.9 million barrels of oil per day in 2018," the report says.

In the long-term, however, Kazakhstan's crude oil and NGLs production is still projected to continue growing over the entire projection period and reach 3.2 million barrels of oil per day by 2035.

Kazakhstan's production comes mainly from five onshore fields - Tengiz, Karachaganak, Aktobe, Mangistau, and Uzen - and two offshore fields - Kashagan and Kurmangazy, both located in the Caspian Sea. Tengiz and Karachaganak produce about 50 pecent of Kazakhstan's total production. Supply growth over the medium-term will mainly come from Kashagan (Phase 1), the Tengiz expansion, and the Akote and Fedorovskiy blocks. First oil production from Kashagan started on 11 September 2013, but it keeps facing technical problems and delays.