TCO reports on plans to boost crude output at Tengiz field
A spokesman for the TengizChevroil (TCO) joint venture said that a new local pipeline would help boost output. "TCO
will this year construct its first pipeline from the supergiant Tengiz field to an oil-cleaning unit," the spokesman
explained. "As a result, daily oil production levels will rise from about 29,420 bpd to 33,250 bpd," he said.
He noted that TCO had extracted 9.56 mm tons of crude last year and hoped to produce 10.4 mm tons in 2000. "Output
will rise again to 12 mm tpy after June of 2001, when the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is due to open up a
high-capacity export line that will run from Tengiz to Novorossiisk on the Black Sea," the spokesman said.
"Some $ 2 bn will be invested in the Tengiz project between 2000 and 2002 in order to push annual output levels up to
17 mm tons," he added. He noted that TCO has invested $ 1.2 bn in the field since 1996. TCO reported sales of $ 1.4
bn in 1999 and stated that it had paid $ 512 mm in taxes to the Kazakhstani government.
TCOwas set up in 1992 as a 50-50 joint venture between Chevron and the Kazakhstani government. It now includes Chevron (45 %) and Mobil (25 %) of the United States, the US-Russian joint venture LukArco (5 %) and Kazakhstan, through the local oil producer Tengizmunaigaz (25 %).
