Oil Flows From Huge Kazakh Oilfield Halted As CPC Suspends Intake

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) on Wednesday suspended the intake of crude oil into the CPC system from the large Tengiz field in Kazakhstan due to excess stock at the terminal at Novorossiysk, which suspended oil lifting this weekend due to adverse weather conditions. 

The CPC runs from the Caspian coast in northwest Kazakhstan to the Novorossiysk port on Russia’s Black Sea coast and carries 80% of Kazakh crude exports.

U.S. supermajor Chevron holds a 50% interest in Tengizchevroil (TCO), the operator of the Tengiz oilfield, the world’s deepest producing supergiant oil field and the largest single-trap producing reservoir in existence.

On Tuesday, CPC said that oil lifting from CPC Marine Terminal was suspended on February 18 due to weather conditions—strong gale-force winds and high waves. To date, storm restrictions from the Harbor Master of the port of Novorossiysk have not been lifted, the forecast is unfavorable, CPC said yesterday, and noted that the CPC Tank Farm at CPC Marine Terminal was virtually full.

Today, CPC said in a statement, as carried by Russian news agency Interfax, “As on February 22, 2023, the intake of oil into the CPC system from the Tengiz field at the Tengiz OPS, Republic of Kazakhstan, was halted owing to excess stock. Oil pumping to the tank farm of the CPC marine terminal was stopped.”

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the world’s largest international oil transportation project involving Russian and Kazakh companies for the transportation of crude oil from Kazakh and Russian fields to the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea via a 1,500-km pipeline. Chevron has a 15% stake in the company.

Kazakhstan’s oil production and exports were lower in the second half of last year due to a partial outage at the huge Kashagan oilfield and urgent repairs needed at two of the CPC’s terminals at Novorossiysk.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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