Tengiz Field

Tengiz is an oil field in the Atyrau region in western Kazakhstan. It was discovered in 1979 and originally contained about 26 billion barrels of oil, of which 6-9 billion barrels that can be economically recovered. This makes it one of the largest oil fields in the region. In 2009, about 540,000 barrels of oil were encouraged daily.

The plans provide for a maximum daily production rate of up to 1.5 million barrels per day. The operator of Tengiz is the company Tengizchevroil. Tengizchevroil is a joint venture between Chevron Corporation (50 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent), KazMunayGas ( 20 percent) and LukArco (5 percent). BP bought 2000, the Atlantic Richfield Company ( ARCO ), so that BP was in possession of 46 % share of LukArco. In December 2009, BP sold its shares took for 1.6 billion U.S. $ cash in Lukoil. This Lukoil became the sole owner of LukArco and its 5 percent stake in Tengizchevroil.

The oil reserves of Tengiz extend over a 19 km wide and 21 km long area. Tengiz is located in a 2,500 km ² large license area of Tengizchevroil. In this area there are several more significant oil deposits. Among the Korolev oil field with additional reserves of 1.5 billion barrels. It searches in spite of these findings still more oil reserves. Just 130 kilometers from Tengiz is the even larger oil field Kashagan.

The quality of the oil fields in this region is very poor. The high sulfur content reduces the attractiveness of the promotion, as the sulfur must be laboriously separated from the oil. So every day there 4,500 tons of sulfur, which are carried by the wind to nearby cities. The residents therefore complain of health problems such as respiratory problems or eye diseases.