Giant Kashagan Oilfield Resumes Output After Power Disruption

(Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan oilfield is resuming production after power disruptions cut output this week.

Supply from the field is expected to regain planned levels in the next two days, Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry said by email. Output was cut on Jan. 15 by a power failure at the project’s onshore facilities, followed by a halt to an offshore power plant two days later, the ministry said.

Production from Kashagan helped drive the country’s crude exports higher last year, the International Energy Agency said in a report Friday. The agency said it expects supply to climb toward the project’s 370,000-barrels-a-day capacity this year from the 250,000 barrels at the end of 2017. The ramp-up at the field has also been responsible for Kazakhstan being the biggest over-producer in the deal with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to restrict supply.

Kazakhstan’s total production dropped by almost 300,000 barrels a day as of Jan. 18 compared with the previous week, the energy ministry’s data show. Output was little changed at about 1.64 million barrels a day as of Friday, according to the data.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nariman Gizitdinov in Almaty at ngizitdinov@bloomberg.net, Julian Lee in London at jlee1627@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Rakteem Katakey, Brian Wingfield

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.