Oil production in Kazakhstan has declined after the closure of a Black Sea terminal that serves as the main outlet for the country’s crude shipments and was recently targeted by drone attacks, two industry sources said on Thursday.
The decline has been particularly sharp at the Chevron-led Tengiz field, Kazakhstan’s largest oilfield.
One source said output there more than halved, to around 406,000 barrels per day on Wednesday from 925,000 bpd on average in July.
Overall oil and gas condensate output in Kazakhstan declined on Wednesday to 1.63 million bpd from July’s average of 2.07 million bpd, according to the source.
Chevron and Kazakhstan’s energy ministry did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium stopped receiving oil from Kazakhstan after suspending loadings on Monday due to attacks on oil tankers at its Black Sea terminal in Russia.
CPC, which accounts for more than 80% of oil exports from Kazakhstan, had earlier suspended loadings at the outlet.
Russia has accused Ukraine of targeting CPC tankers as part of its “ambition to further destabilise the situation on global oil markets”.
Ukraine, which has stepped its strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure in recent months, has not commented on the attacks.
The suspension of loadings from the CPC pipeline, which exports almost 2% of global oil, adds to global oil concerns as the war in Iran has already disrupted supply from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Louise Heavens)