Tengiz
Tengiz · Тенгизское месторождение · Теңіз кен орны
Tengiz is Kazakhstan's largest oil field and one of the deepest producing fields in the world. It was discovered in 1979 in the Atyrau region and is developed by Tengizchevroil, a joint venture formed in 1993. In 2024 it produced 27.8 million tonnes of crude, and the Future Growth Project, which started up in 2025, takes the site to a million barrels of oil equivalent a day.
- Type
- Oil & gas fields
- Region
- Atyrau Region
- Status
- Producing
- Shareholders
- Chevron 50%, ExxonMobil 25%, KazMunayGas 20%, LUKOIL 5%
What it is known for
- The world's deepest producing super-giant oil field, in the operator's own words Tengizchevroil
- The largest payer among the country's oil and gas projects: over $201 billion in direct payments to Kazakhstan since 1993 Tengizchevroil
Who found it
The sub-salt Palaeozoic of the south-eastern Caspian depression was long thought hopeless. It was the geologists of Embaneft who took exploration there: the seismic survey prepared the structure, and the exploration drilling reached it at the end of the 1970s. The field was named by Zholdasqali Dosmukhambetov.
- Makash Balgimbayevich Balgimbayev1931–2005
The man credited with finding Tengiz. Chief geologist of Embaneft's Balykshin exploratory drilling office, candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, laureate of the State Prize of Kazakhstan and Honoured Geological Prospector of the republic. By his own account Tengiz began for him in 1967, when as chief geologist of the Biikzhal ultra-deep drilling expedition he took on the sub-salt Palaeozoic of the Caspian depression.
PETROLEUM — аналитический журнал
The key figures
- Discovered
- 1979 Tengizchevroil
- Partners
- Chevron 50%, ExxonMobil 25%, KazMunayGas 20%, LUKOIL 5%; the partnership was formed on 6 April 1993 Tengizchevroil
- Oil in place
- 3.1 billion tonnes (25 billion barrels) at Tengiz and 200 million tonnes at Korolev Tengizchevroil
- Recoverable reserves
- 1.4 billion tonnes (11 billion barrels) across the two fields Tengizchevroil
- Extent of the reservoir
- 20 × 21 km Tengizchevroil
- 2024 production
- 27.8 million tonnes of crude (about 220 million barrels) Tengizchevroil
- Daily capacity
- over 80 thousand tonnes of oil (640 thousand barrels) and 25 million m³ of gas a day Tengizchevroil
- Other products
- in 2024 it sold 1.2 million tonnes of LPG and about 2.7 million tonnes of sulphur; all sales gas went to the domestic market Tengizchevroil
- Gas utilisation
- 99.2% in 2024 Tengizchevroil
- Kazakhstani content
- about $3 billion in 2024; Kazakhstani citizens hold 93.6% of the positions Tengizchevroil
History
- 1967
Embaneft's geologists take on the sub-salt Palaeozoic of the Caspian depression
- 1979
The field is discovered
- 1991
On 6 April the Tengiz plant takes the first tonne of crude from well T-8
- 1993
The Tengizchevroil partnership is formed on 6 April
- 2008
The Sour Gas Injection and Second-Generation Plant projects are completed
- 2025
First oil from the Future Growth Project: a third plant takes the site towards 1 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, adding 260 thousand barrels a day
Infrastructure
The hydrocarbons are processed on site: the crude treatment complex, the second-generation plant with sour gas injected back into the reservoir, and the new plant of the Future Growth Project. Sulphur and LPG come out as by-products, and all sales gas goes to the domestic market. The export routes and the neighbouring facilities are on the industry map.