Kazakhstan Failed to Produce 6 Million Tonnes of Oil Due to CPC Attacks and Tengiz Accident

Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy, Serik Zhumangarin, said at a 13 October briefing that the country lost about 6 million tonnes of oil output in 2026 due to problems with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and an accident at the Tengiz field, according to TASS. He said the oil was not produced and remains in the ground, not participating in the economy.

Deputy Energy Minister Yerlan Akbarov reported that 69.4 million tonnes of oil were produced in January to September 2026, equal to 91.7% of the same period in 2025. Scheduled repairs at Kashagan and Tengiz were postponed to offset the shortfall, and talks with major subsoil users on raising output are under way. The full-year 2026 forecast is 96 million tonnes, compared with 99.55 million tonnes produced in 2025.

Tengiz had three incidents this year. On 18 January, transformers at the GTPP-4 power plant caught fire, halting production for almost a month. A fire at a caustic neutralisation unit on 11 March did not stop output. On 26 May, operator Tengizchevroil reported an operational failure. The CPC carries oil from Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak to a terminal near Novorossiysk, where infrastructure and tankers were repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian drones in 2026, suspending shipments.