Kazakhstan cannot reduce its oil production under the OPEC+ agreement because it lacks authority over foreign firms that operate most of its oilfields, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said on Thursday.
“The republic has no right to enforce production cuts,” Akkenzhenov told reporters, according to Bloomberg. More than 70% of Kazakhstan’s oil output comes from three major fields run by international consortiums, including U.S.-based Chevron.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth confirmed earlier this month that the company does not take part in OPEC+ discussions. “We don’t engage in discussions about OPEC or OPEC plus,” Wirth told analysts during the company’s Q1 earnings call.
For fields managed by state-owned KazMunayGas, Akkenzhenov noted that output reductions are not practical due to their mature stage and lower flexibility.
Kazakhstan’s consistent overproduction has become a growing concern within the OPEC+ alliance. The country has been pumping above its agreed quota, joining Iraq and Russia among the bloc’s largest overproducers. This has frustrated countries like Saudi Arabia that have stuck to their production targets.
Under its OPEC+ commitment, Kazakhstan’s crude oil production quota is set below 1.5 million barrels per day. However, the agreement does not cover condensate output, which allows Kazakhstan some flexibility.
Akkenzhenov also said the country is likely to exceed its 2024 oil production target due to increased output at the Tengiz field, which is led by Chevron. Earlier this year, the energy ministry projected 96.2 million tons of crude and condensate production for 2025—about 2 million barrels per day—representing a 9.7% increase from 2024.
Kazakhstan has pledged to compensate for past overproduction by cutting 1.3 million barrels from its total output by 2026. However, with international oil majors controlling the country’s largest fields, that promise may prove difficult to fulfill.