(Updates with Shell, details, background)
By Ron Bousso and Rowena Edwards
LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Oil production at Kazakhstan's top
three fields is continuing even as some contractors gathered
outside the largest Tengiz field in support of protests taking
place across the central Asian country, oil firms said on
Thursday.
Protests in the west of the country against a New Year's Day
fuel price hike have quickly grown into deadly anti-government
riots with Russia sending in paratroopers to put down the
countrywide uprising.
Kazakhstan is a major oil producer with output of about 1.6
million barrels per day in recent months, and has rarely seen
production disrupted by unrest or natural disaster.
"TCO production operations continue," Chevron, the largest
foreign oil producer in Kazakhstan with a 50% stake in the
Tengizchevroil (TCO) joint venture, said in a statement.
"Tengizchevroil can confirm that a number of contractor
employees are gathered at the Tengiz field in support of
protests," it added.
On Wednesday Chevron, which operates TCO, said output at the
field was unaffected by the protests.
TCO produces around 700,000 bpd. Other top fields in
Kazakhstan are onshore Karachaganak and offshore Kashagan.
Besides Chevron, the three key projects involve most top
foreign companies including Exxon Mobil, Lukoil, Royal
Dutch/Shell, Eni, Total, CNPC and Inpex.
A Shell spokesperson said production at the Karachaganak and
Kashagan ventures was continuing.
"We are following developments in Kazakhstan closely. We are
focusing on keeping our people and operations safe, working
closely with our venture partners... We are keeping the
situation under constant review."
(Reporting by Rowena Edwards and Ron Bousso, additional
reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by David Goodman, Jason
Neely, Kirsten Donovan)
