Non-OPEC producer Kazakhstan, which is boosting its oil output in defiance of its quotas in the OPEC+ deal, doesn’t plan to leave the alliance of producers, the country’s top officials said on Tuesday.
Kazakhstan is not considering leaving the OPEC+ pact as it believes it helps stabilize the oil market, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said on Tuesday, as quoted by Russian news agency Interfax.
“We will do our best to fulfill our obligations, but we’ll take into account national interests,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Oil production in Kazakhstan jumped by 11.6% in the first half of 2025 from the same period of last year, as international majors operating in the country are expanding major oilfields and boosting production.
Exports are also expected to increase this year, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said on Tuesday.
Kazakhstan has been a major headache for the other OPEC+ producers as it hasn’t adhered to its quota. The country claims it cannot force the supermajors to cut production while higher output is in fact in its national interest.
The other OPEC+ producers haven’t been happy with Kazakhstan’s overproduction, which exceeds its quota by hundreds of thousands of barrels per day.
For example, OPEC’s monthly report out today showed that Kazakhstan continues to hike production, and the June increase was 64,000 bpd to 1.847 million bpd—well above its June quota of 1.5 million bpd.
Kazakhstan has been openly defying the group’s targets as it continues to raise production from projects involving international majors such as Chevron.
Energy Minister Akkenzhenov confirmed in May that “the republic has no right to enforce production cuts” on foreign operators.
Chevron’s chief executive, Mike Wirth, told analysts at the supermajor’s Q1 earnings call that “On OPEC plus in Kazakhstan, you know, really were not discussions of that. We don’t engage in discussions about OPEC or OPEC plus.”
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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