Kazakhstan has ramped up crude production over the past few days, sources familiar with the data told Reuters, after having to curtail it due to a bottleneck on its major exports pipeline.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline and Black Sea terminal, which ship about 80% of Kazakh crude exports, returned to full capacity on April 23 after working at half capacity for several weeks due to storm-damaged mooring points.

On April 24-25, Kazakhstan’s crude output jumped to 253,400-254,700 tonnes per day from 192,200-231,700 tonnes per day, the range where it remained during the CPC terminal’s partial outage, sources said.

Chevron-led CVX.N Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s largest producer, has raised output by 30% to 84,738 tonnes per day, Karachaganak Petroleum Operating has increased output by 11% to 33,016 tonnes per day, and production at another giant field, Kashagan, has jumped 22% to 50.930 tonnes per day, the sources said.

“Tengizchevroil can confirm that its production facilities are operating at normal rates and the company is currently exporting its crude oil in line with full allocations by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium,” a Chevron representative said in a written answer to a Reuters request.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Edmund Blair and Jonathan Oatis)