Tengiz field, in western Kazakhstan, is located in the swamplands along the northeast shores of the Caspian Sea. Discovered in 1979, the Tengiz oil field is one of the largest discoveries in recent history. The city of Atyrau, 350 kilometers north of Tengiz, is the main transport hub of Tengiz oil. Many nations are involved in a large geopolitical competition to secure access to this source of oil.

Estimated at up to 25 billion barrels (4 km³), the Tengiz is the second largest oil field in the world; however, recoverable crude oil reserves have only been estimated at around 6 to 9 billion barrels (0.9 to 1.4 km³). Like many other oil fields, the Tengiz also contains large reserves of natural gas. Since the oil from Tengiz contains a high amount of sulfur (up to 16%), a 6 million ton mountain (and still growing) is being used to store the sulfur byproduct.

The Tengizchevroil (TCO) joint venture has developed the Tengiz field since 1993. The major partners in Tengizchevroil are ChevronTexaco (50% ownership), ExxonMobil (25% ownership), the Kazakhstani government through KazMunaiGaz (20% ownership) and Russian LukArco (5%).

In 2002, the consortium produced 285,000 barrels (45,000 m³) per day, or one third of Kazakhstan's daily production. In January 2003, after contentious negotiations with the government of Kazakhstan, the TCO consortium members initiated a $3 billion expansion project designed to boost production to approximately 450,000 barrels (72,000 m³) per day by 2006. According to ChevronTexaco, Tengiz could potentially produce 700,000 barrels (111,000 m³) per day by the end of the decade.

An area of major geopolitical competition involves the routing of oil out of this oil field. Oil from the Tengiz field is primarily routed to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) project. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline is a competing pipeline put forth by U.S. interests to bypass dependence on the Russian pipeline. In addition, TotalFinaElf is interested in developing a pipeline south through Iran, which is theoretically the cheapest route; due to the geopolitical climate involving Iran, however, the United States does not favor this route.

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