Chevron and partners complete $48 billion expansion at Tengiz oil field

Chevron and its partners have finished a roughly $48 billion expansion of the Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan, raising the field’s capacity to about one million barrels a day, Tengizchevroil said. Tengiz has produced oil for more than three decades. According to TCO, the field holds about 25 billion barrels of oil, with the adjacent Korolev field containing about 1.6 billion barrels.

The decade‑long project cost an estimated $48 billion, about $11 billion above initial projections, and boosted output by roughly one‑third to about one million barrels a day, the article said. Chevron owns 50 percent of Tengizchevroil; other partners include Exxon Mobil (25 percent), KazMunayGas (20 percent) and Lukoil (5 percent).

The field is a major part of Kazakhstan’s economy. S&P Global Commodity Insights estimated Tengiz accounts for almost 10 percent of the country’s GDP, and TCO produced more than 40 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil in the first half of 2025 and is its largest taxpayer. TCO employs about 4,000 people, more than 90 percent of them local, the piece said.

At the same time, the project faces near‑term risks. Exports flow through a pipeline to Russia’s port of Novorossiysk, and Ukraine’s drone attacks on that route in late November knocked out one of three tanker loading facilities and forced a roughly 30 percent cutback at Tengiz, the article reported.

Key Topics

Business, Chevron, Tengiz Field, Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan, Novorossiysk Port