Tengiz

Tengiz is one of the world's largest producing oilfields, located in western Kazakhstan and operated primarily by Tengizchevroil, a joint venture in which Chevron holds a 50% stake. Its crude reaches market almost exclusively through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline to the Novorossiysk terminal. Ukraine's 6 April 2026 strike on the CPC terminal directly disrupted Tengiz export flows and prompted the US State Department to warn Kyiv off further attacks.

Tengizchevroil's shareholders are Chevron (50%), ExxonMobil (25%), KazMunayGas (20%), and LukArco (5%). At peak, Tengiz produces roughly 700,000 barrels per day. The field was discovered in 1979 and Chevron acquired its stake in 1993 following a landmark deal with Kazakhstan at independence. It is among the top five assets by production volume in Chevron's global portfolio.

The Tengiz production chain runs through Russia. That geographic dependency has repeatedly placed Kazakhstan in an awkward position: Astana cannot export the bulk of its crude without Russian transit, regardless of its official neutrality in the Ukraine conflict. The CPC strike exposed that dependency directly, making Tengiz the point where US sanctions policy, Kazakh energy sovereignty, and Ukrainian strike operations collide.