### Kazakh Oil

Kazakhstan's resources are centered around the gigantic Tengiz oil field (shown left). Tengiz is operated by TengizChevroil, a joint venture between the Kazakh government oil company and Chevron first formed in 1993.. The Tengiz field is one of the largest in the world, with 6 to 9 billion barrels of reserves. The project is currently producing 180,000 b/d of oil, much of it exported through the Russian pipeline system to Novorossiysk. In the long term, exports from Tengiz are expected to increase to 1.3 million barrels per day by 2010. This volume is expected to be exported through a line that is currently being constructed between Tengiz and Novorossiysk by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium(CPC). The CPC line, however, would still face the problem of exiting through the Bosporus and the potential need for a bypass route. Due to this problem, other options under consideration include exporting through Iran, either by dedicated pipeline or through swaps, which are already underway in smaller volumes. Exports through Iran are strongly opposed by the US. Another less likely option that the US has proposed to support a Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is a Trans-Caspian pipeline to tie Kazakh oil in with Azerbaijani Oil.

Comparison of Transport Costs for Kazakh Oil to Rotterdam
Route | Capacity (kb/d) | Cost to Port | Black Sea Tanker | Second Pipeline | Final Tanker | Total Cost
Tengiz-Novorossiysk | 1300 | $1.42 |  |  | $1.23 | $2.65
Novorossiysk-Samsun- Ceyhan Bypass | 1300 | $1.42 | $0.40 | $0.88 | $0.76 | $3.46
Novorossiysk- Bosporus Bypass | 1300 / 1000 | $1.42 | $0.40 | $0.59 | $0.76 | $3.17
Turkmenbashi-Kharg | 900 | $1.57 |  |  | $0.93 | $2.50

Individual Route Pages:

CPC
Iran
Trans-Caspian Oil

Kazakh Oil Links