Tengizchevroil (TCO) has postponed annual maintenance of Tengiz field to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delay slows work on TCO’s Tengiz expansion project after multiple positive tests for coronavirus at a workers’ camp near the field.
Tengiz’s estimated recoverable crude reserves measure 6-9 billion bbl. Current production capacity is 540,000 b/d of crude oil, 750 MMcfd of natural gas, and more than 40,000 b/d of NGL. TCO’s expansion, the integrated Future Growth Project-Wellhead Pressure Management Project (FGP-WPMP), is designed to increase crude oil production from Tengiz by 260,000 b/d.
Chevron Corp. in 2019 increased FGP-WPMP’s cost estimate to $45.2 billion from $36.8 billion. The FGP will use sour gas injection technology, developed during TCO’s previous expansion in 2008, to increase daily crude oil production while the WPMP will extend the field’s production plateau and keep existing plants producing at full capacity (OGJ Online, Nov. 4, 2019).
Chevron owns 50% of TCO, with Exxon Mobil Corp. (25%), Russia’s Lukoil (5%), and Kazakh-state KazMunayGaz (20%).
