Kazakhstan is hoping to strike a deal with some of the world’s largest oil producers on restraining its crude production due to a need to crank up output at its Kashagan field.
The country managed to increase its oil and gas condensate output by 9.9% in January to July 2017 to 49.9 milion tonnes (1.7724 barrels per day0.
Kazakhstand is now looking to alter the terms of the deal to reflect the changes in the market.
“I think that talks on Kazakhstan’s commitments will continue separately. There is understanding from OPEC that the project (Kashagan) is very large, there have been huge investments and there is a need to return these investments to shareholders.”
With investments of around $55 billion, Kazakhstan was expected to produce 13 million tonnes next year (260,000 bpd), while other oil projects in the country could see their output reduced.
According to Reuters, Kashagan has been developed by a consortium of China National Petroleum Corp CNPET.UL, Exxon Mobil XOM.N, Eni ENI.MI, Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L, Total TOTF.PA, Inpex 1605.T and KazMunaiGas KMGZ.KZ.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia and Kazakhstan, agreed to cut output from January this year until the end of March 2018 to reduce global inventories and support oil prices.