ExxonMobil May Invest in New Projects in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan and ExxonMobil are looking beyond their existing oil projects

 The two sides are exploring potential investment, geological exploration and technology partnerships as the country seeks to extend cooperation with one of its largest international energy investors, DKNews.kz reports.

Askhat Khassenov, Chairman of the Management Board of Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas, met with ExxonMobil Upstream President Dan Ammann in Astana.

The talks covered the Tengiz and North Caspian projects, as well as potential new areas of cooperation in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry.

ExxonMobil owns 25% of Kazakhstan’s Tengiz project

For ExxonMobil, Kazakhstan is already a major part of its global upstream portfolio.

The US energy company owns a 25% stake in Tengizchevroil, the operator of the Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan. Chevron holds 50%, KazMunayGas owns 20%, while Lukoil has the remaining 5%.

Tengiz is one of Kazakhstan’s largest oil-producing assets and a cornerstone of the country’s energy sector.

That makes the latest talks more significant than a routine corporate meeting. Both KazMunayGas and ExxonMobil are shareholders in projects that account for a substantial share of Kazakhstan’s oil production.

Tengiz has entered a new phase after a major expansion

The meeting comes after Tengiz completed one of the largest expansion programs in Kazakhstan’s oil industry.

In 2025, oil production attributable to KazMunayGas’s stake in Tengiz rose by 40.3% to 7.8 million tonnes. The Kazakh company linked the increase to the commissioning and ramp-up of new facilities under the Future Growth Project.

With the expansion now operational, the focus is increasingly shifting from building new capacity to extracting more value from existing infrastructure.

That helps explain why production efficiency and advanced technologies featured prominently in the latest discussions between KazMunayGas and ExxonMobil.

Kazakhstan wants cooperation to move into exploration

The more forward-looking part of the talks was not about Tengiz or Kashagan.

Khassenov and Ammann also discussed potential investment cooperation and joint work in geological exploration, according to KazMunayGas.

For Kazakhstan, this is a key strategic issue.

The country remains a major oil producer, but sustaining output over the longer term will require both further development of existing fields and the discovery of new hydrocarbon resources.

Bringing an international major such as ExxonMobil into additional exploration projects could therefore extend the partnership beyond assets developed decades ago.

No specific exploration block, investment amount or timetable was announced following the meeting.

ExxonMobil is also a shareholder in Kashagan

The second major project on the agenda was the North Caspian project, which includes the giant Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea.

KazMunayGas owns 16.88% of the project, while ExxonMobil holds 16.81%.

Kashagan is one of the world’s largest oil discoveries of recent decades and one of Kazakhstan’s most technically challenging energy projects. Offshore operations and difficult reservoir conditions have made technology and operational efficiency particularly important for its shareholders.

That gives the discussion around new technologies a practical dimension. For ExxonMobil and KazMunayGas, efficiency gains can directly affect the economics of assets in which both companies have significant stakes.

No new investment deal has been announced yet

The meeting ended with both sides expressing their readiness to strengthen their strategic partnership across mutually beneficial areas.

However, KazMunayGas did not announce a new investment agreement.

There is no disclosed investment figure, no newly confirmed exploration project and no timetable for a potential deal.

For now, the key development is the widening scope of the relationship: KazMunayGas and ExxonMobil are discussing cooperation beyond their established positions in Tengiz and Kashagan, including exploration, technology and potential new investment in Kazakhstan.

The next question is whether those discussions will translate into a new project — and fresh capital for Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector.

Photo by: KMG.

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