Reserves and production
Estimated at up to 25 Goilbbl of oil originally in place, Tengiz is the sixth largest oil field in the world; recoverable crude oil reserves from Tengiz and Korolev fields combined have been estimated at 6 to 9 Goilbbl. Korolev field alone holds 1.5 Goilbbl of oil making it one-sixth the size of Tengiz.[1] Like many other oil fields, the Tengiz also contains large reserves of natural gas. The field is one of the world's largest oil fields, rivaling the Gulf of Mexico in reserves of oil.[20]
Since the oil from Tengiz contains a high amount of sulfur (up to 17%), an estimated 6 million tons of sulfur byproduct were stored in the form of large sulfur blocks as of December 2002. At the time, about 4,000 tonnes a day was being added.[21] On 3 October 2007, the Kazakh environment ministry was reported to be considering imposing fines against TCO for alleged breaches in the way the sulfur is stored.[22]
In 2002, TCO produced 285000 oilbbl/d, or one third of Kazakhstan's daily production. In January 2003, after contentious negotiations with the government of Kazakhstan, the TCO consortium members initiated a $3 billion expansion project designed to boost production to approximately 450000 oilbbl/d by 2006. In September 2008, Chevron Corporation announced that the major expansion of Tengiz field was completed and it would boost the production capacity to 540000 oilbbl/d.[23] In 2012 Chevron announced the field will see its total daily production increase by 250,000-300,000 barrels,[24] bringing production above 500,000 barrels per day.
An area of major geopolitical competition involves the routing of oil out of this oil field. Oil from the Tengiz field is primarily routed to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) project. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline is an alternative pipeline developed by U.S. and UK interests originating in the Southern Caspian which is the principal export route for crude from Azerbaijan and bypasses dependence on the Russian pipeline. In addition, Total S.A. is interested in developing a pipeline south through Iran, which is theoretically the cheapest route[25] due to the geopolitical climate involving Iran, however, the United States does not favor this route.
In early 2025, the Tengiz oil field's production reached a peak of 870,000 barrels per day in January, following the start of its expansion project. While the field reached this peak in January, Chevron and Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy predicted it would reach its full production capacity of approximately 1 million barrels per day later in the year. By May 2025, production hit 932,000 barrels per day, with the government stating that it had reached its planned capacity and would not increase further for the remainder of the year.
