Kazakhstan daily oil output hit record high in March, industry sources say

MOSCOW, March 21 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's oil output has reached a record high this month on the back of oilfield expansion, further exceeding OPEC+ production quotas, two industry sources said and Reuters calculations showed on Friday.

The country has repeatedly exceeded its OPEC+ quotas in recent months and has promised to reduce output under pressure from OPEC+ leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia.

However, it is finding it difficult to convince U.S. oil majors such as Chevron CVX.N and Exxon Mobil XOM.N to reduce output from Kazakhstan’s biggest fields after the companies spent tens of billions of dollars on expanding their projects.

After tough discussions on OPEC+ compliance the state's Energy Minister has stepped down.

Oil and gas condensate production in Kazakhstan reached 4.6 million metric tons over March 1-16, or 2.16 million barrels per day (bpd), the sources said. That compared with 2.12 million bpd on average in February.

Kazakhstan's OPEC+ quota doesn’t limit condensate production but crude oil output is meant to be set at 1.468 million bpd.

Kazakhstan produced 1.86 million bpd of crude on average over March 1-16, exceeding its OPEC+ quota by almost 400,000 bpd, Reuters calculations showed, based on the data provided by the sources.

Output was also above OPEC+ quotas in January and February at 1.767 million bpd and 1.57 million bpd respectively, OPEC data showed last week.

The state pledged to compensate with additional cuts. OPEC+ on Thursday issued a new schedule for seven member nations including Russia, Kazakstan and Iraq to make further oil output cuts to compensate for pumping above agreed levels.

OPEC+ sources told Reuters that record Kazakh output had angered some key members and helped to sway their decision this month to proceed with a plan to start raising output from April.

Kazakhstan's March oil exports remain high, with flows via its Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) export route continuing unabated. Exports via the CPC pipeline have been set at 1.7 million bpd for April, in line with the preliminary March plan.