Main work on expanding CPC capacity to be finished in Dec, pipeline to be ready for additional oil at start of 2023
MOSCOW/KRASNODAR. Nov 18 (Interfax) - The main work on expanding the throughput capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) will be completed in December, CPC head Nikolai Gorban told Interfax.
"At the beginning of 2023 the CPC will be ready to receive oil in line with the increased requests of freight shippers," Gorban said.
He said that the package of documents of the final investment decision specifies that construction and installation work on the program to eliminate bottlenecks is supposed to be completed by December 2023.
The implementation of the program will provide flexibility in the operation of injection points and make it possible to pump additional oil - up to 72.5 million tonnes per year in Kazakhstan and up to 83 million tonnes per year through Russia - given optimal amounts of drag-reducing agents and corresponding pipeline operating ratios.
The CPC's Panorama magazine reported that Gorban inspected the Atyrau oil pump station, where a fifth main-line pump is scheduled to go into operation in December under the debottlenecking program. This will boost the station's throughput capacity from 9,000 to more than 12,000 cubic meters per hour.
The Astrakhan pump station, which Gorban also inspected, will get a new main-line pump and new enclosed switchgear under the program, and has already hooked up the equipment of the foam generating unit and strainers. This station is now doing comprehensive testing of the equipment of the new pump.
At the Tengiz pump station, there are plans to install two RVSPK-20000 tanks, modernize the oil metering station, replace three main-line pumps, install four booster pumps and build a substation.
The CPC operates the 1,511-km Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline with capacity to carry 67 million tonnes of crude per year. The pipeline is the main export route for Kazakh oil, accounting for more than 80% of the country's oil exports.
The CPC's shareholders are Russia with 31% (represented by Transneft with 24% and CPC Company with 7%); Kazakhstan with 20.75% (represented by KazMunayGas with 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC with 1.75%); Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company with 15%; Lukarco B.V. with 12.5%; Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company with 7.5%; Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited with 7.5%; BG Overseas Holding Limited with 2%; Eni International N.A. N.V. with 2%; and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC with 1.75%.