Single-point moorings to replace SPM-1 and SPM-2 approximately 90% complete - Caspian Pipeline Consortium chief

MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax) - The single-point moorings that will replace the current SPM-1 and SPM-2 at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's marine terminal are approximately 90% complete, CPC CEO Nikolai Gorban told reporters on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week.

"At the end of November, we invited shareholders to visit the shipyard and see the results. As of today, the SPMs are roughly 90% complete. Both of them. So we are now looking at the possibility that our contractor will begin to deliver the SPMs earlier, but the schedule is February-March or later," he said.

Gorban said plans to replace the units still stood.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium will replace SPMs 1 and 2 in 2026-2027, and SPM-3 in 2027-2028. The first two will be imported but SPM-3 will be replaced by a Russian-made unit. Gorban said in June that designs were complete and technology had been developed, but the contract with the Russian manufacturer of the SPM was on hold for now. "This is the decision of the shareholders, but the technology has been preserved and may be applied in the future," he said.

CPC-R said in a financial statement that the consortium's contract with Kaliningrad-based LLC Kliver for the design, manufacture, testing and delivery of the single-point mooring device was worth approximately 6.5 billion rubles.