Kazakhstan secures more domestic gas supply from Chevron
Kazakhstan's presidential office said August 18 that US major Chevron has agreed to redirect 2.6bn m3/yr of gas from Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field to domestic customers.
Astana says Chevron was also pressed by Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to back an expansion of Karachaganak's production capacity, as well as investment in Kazakhstan's petrochemicals sector.
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The additional gas will come from Chevron's 18% equity holding in Karachaganak's operating consortium. Eni and Shell are joint operators of the consortium, with 29.5% each, followed by Lukoil (13.5%) and KazMunayGaz (10%). Tokayev had in June confirmed domestic markets would need an extra 2bn m3 of gas, though at that time Chevron-operated Tengiz oilfield was the main contender for reduced exports.
Karachaganak produces around 15bn m3/yr of gas, but the majority of its output is currently sent to Russia for processing and sale, as the field lacks sufficient processing capacity of its own. But Kazakhstan is eager to see more of the gas processed internally and used to support its national gasification programme. Astana wants to transition its power and heating sectors away from coal, and views gas as the most effective alternative. Most of Kazakhstan's supply is associated gas extracted at oilfields.