The Chevron-led consortium operating the giant Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan has resumed production at the site following a fire on January 18 that forced a temporary shutdown.
“Tengizchevroil confirms the safe start-up of the power distribution system and the initial stage of resuming crude oil production. TCO is working to gradually increase production volumes as conditions allow,” the Tengizchevroil consortium said in a statement on Monday carried by Reuters.
Tengizchevroil’s shareholders include Chevron with a 50% stake, ExxonMobil with 25%, Kazakhstan’s state oil and gas firm KazMunayGaz with a 20% interest, and Russian Lukoil with 5%.
The Tengiz oilfield was forced into a temporary shutdown on January 18 after fires damaged a critical power generation and distribution facility. Production and exports were halted following damage to site power systems serving the field and the adjacent Korolev oilfield, Kazakhstan said.
Two fires broke out on January 18 at transformers serving different generation trains at the GTES-4 power plant. The power unit supplies electricity to oil and gas processing facilities at Tengiz. Both fires were extinguished, and the field and related infrastructure were described as safe and secure.
Before the forced shutdown, Tengiz was producing about 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil.
The halt at the huge Kazakh oilfield helped lift Brent Crude prices above the $65 per barrel mark last week.
Kazakhstan has set up a special commission that is investigating the incident, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said last week. The commission includes members of the Chevron-led field operator Tengizchevroil, as well as representatives of regional and state agencies.
Crude oil from Tengiz is being exported through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline to the CPC marine terminal on Russia’s Black Sea.
CPC exports have been disrupted in recent weeks due to Ukrainian drone strikes and severe winter weather.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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