Suspension of crude transshipment at Novorossiysk marine terminal not politically motivated - CPC
ALMATY. April 13 (Interfax) - The suspension of planned oil transshipment through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) marine terminal single point moorings (SPMs) and crude oil intake to the tank farm is not politically motivated, the CPC press office said.
"Planned technical work on the oil pipeline in accordance with the schedule is not the result of complaints from the public and is not politically motivated," it said.
It is noted that in accordance with the annual maintenance and repairs plan, the CPC stops pumping oil via the pipeline at least twice a year; as a rule, the shutdown duration is 72 hours after the dispatch of the last loaded tanker, according to the press office.
The results and scope of work following the planned shutdown will be announced in due course.
The CPC marine terminal has suspended transshipping oil through the SPMs and receiving crude oil into the tank farm since April 10 owing to the planned shutdown.
The CPC operates the Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline, which is 1,511 kilometers long with capacity to pump 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. It transported 58.7 million tonnes of oil in 2022, a decline of 3.3% year-on-year.
The CPC also faced problems with pumping restrictions on several occasions due to other external factors throughout 2022: damage to moorings during a storm in March; an inspection of the marine terminal water area for the presence of explosive devices and their elimination which did not affect the CPC shipments schedule; as well as the replacement of single-point mooring system buoyancy tanks, damage to which was discovered in August.
Oil shipments were repeatedly halted due to bad weather on February 19 and 24-26, and on February 22 the CPC suspended the intake of oil from the Tengiz field due to excess stock.
CPC's shareholders are the Russian Federation with 31%, with Transneft managing 24% and 7% on the balance sheet; KazMunayGas at 19%; Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC at 1.75%; Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company at 15%; LUKARCO B.V. at 12.5%; Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company at 7.5%; Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited at 7.5%; BG Overseas Holding Limited at 2%; Eni International N.A. N.V. S.ar.l. at 2%; and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC at 1.75%.