Joint venture plans to increase Tengiz oil production

July 30, 1998 A joint venture of Kazakh and western oil companies plans to boost production at the massive Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan in spite of the sharp drop in world oil prices, an official said.
An official with the consortium said lower oil prices have lately forced investors to dig into their own pockets to finance the project. But that has not dampened the investors' resolve, he said.
"Unlike before, we are not able to finance all our expansion projects with our own cash flow," said Nick Zana, president of the Eurasia Business Unit of Chevron Overseas Petroleum. "It has not affected our expansion plans."
Mobil and Chevron are involved in the project, along with Kazakhstan's national oil company Kazakhoil and Russia's Lukoil and Arco.
Zana said that the joint venture produced around 4 mm tons of oil in the first 6 months of the year, and plans to exceed its target of 8.2 mm tons this year.
By 2000, the venture plans to boost production to around 12 mm tons, he said.
That should coincide with the completion of the pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium from Tengiz to Russia's Black Sea in the first half of 2001.
"We are ready for the CPC," he said. "We will have a capacity in excess of the CPC commitment."
The shareholders have also recently decided that the CPC pipeline won't end at the Black Sea part Novorossiisk, but at a new terminal - Novorossiisk-2 - to be built 10 km (6 miles) north-west of the Russian port, Zena added.