Chevron considering rail transport for Kazakhstan oil, CEO says

The brand and buying and selling info for Chevron is displayed on a display on the ground of the New York Inventory Alternate (NYSE) in New York Metropolis, U.S., June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Sept 7 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp. (CVX.N) is working with the Kazakhstan authorities to guarantee oil flows from the landlocked nation’s fields could be sustained within the occasion of halts to Black Sea loadings, Chief Government Michael Wirth mentioned at an power convention on Wednesday.

Oil from Kazakhstan’s huge Tengiz Subject flows throughout Russia through a pipeline to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, the place two of three loading buoys are present process repairs. The pipeline is flowing about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), under its 1.5 million bpd capability. learn extra

“There are not any constraints proper now on loading,” due to the repairs to the port’s loading buoys and upkeep on the pipeline, he mentioned. Rail transit may very well be an alternative choice to a lack of the loading port or pipeline, he mentioned.

Tengiz producers “have shipped a variety of oil through rail out of that space” over time, Wirth mentioned. “However the actuality is within the close to time period, the first and the large-scale choice stays this pipeline.”

That pipeline exported some 1.2 million barrels per day, of Kazakhstan’s primary crude grade, final yr. It additionally carries some Russian oil from Russia that’s added earlier than reaching the port.

In different remarks on the Barclays CEO Power-Energy Convention, Wirth mentioned oil demand progress will likely be “fairly good,” however within the close to time period there are questions on demand in Europe and China.

Buyers additionally need Chevron and different oil producers to restrain spending on new oil and fuel manufacturing. Its money reserves have risen past that wanted to maintain its enterprise and will likely be allotted to shareholder returns over time, he mentioned.

The corporate will solely do offers “that make us stronger,” mentioned Wirth. Its targets are to guard its dividend, develop its enterprise, keep a powerful stability sheet, and return money to shareholders by share buybacks, he mentioned.

Chevron didn’t pursue a stake in Qatar’s liquefied pure fuel (LNG) growth undertaking “as a result of we felt like we had increased return alternatives,” he mentioned.

The corporate just lately struck offers for U.S. LNG initiatives now in growth. Its LNG enterprise has targeted on markets alongside the Pacific Ocean, and expects Europe to develop into an necessary LNG market, he mentioned.

Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Enhancing by Chizu Nomiyama

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