Kazakh oil exports face another one-month disruption after two out of three single mooring points (SPMs) at Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) Black Sea terminal were shut down for repair work, Qazmonitor reports citing Azattyq Ruhy.
CPC confirmed on Monday that oil exports via the two SPMs have been suspended due to equipment damaged by bad winter weather.
CPC added that the planned inspection of the third SPM at the Yuzhnaya Ozereyevka terminal will be carried out, temporarily shutting it down for a few hours. CPC said it is currently negotiating with shippers to shift loading schedules in order to complete the inspection by August 26.
Loading plans for August and September, which were set to just over 5 million tonnes each, is now in revision.
The news follows a series of disruptions that plagued the consortium this year.
Earlier in March, two SPMs at the terminal were claimed to be damaged in a storm and returned to service in April. From June 15-25, CPC had only one SPM operating due to ordnance disposal.
At the start of July, the regional court of Novorossiysk ordered the suspension of CPC activity for 30 days due to alleged concerns for environmental safety, which was later overturned on appeal.
At the end of the same month, two pumping stations in Atyrau were cut off from electricity after thunderstorms and hurricane winds knocked down seven transmission towers.
The terminal handles about 1% of global oil supply and is the main route for most of Kazakhstan's oil exports.
Major oil suppliers via CPC, Chevron-led Tengizchevroil (TCO)'s Tengiz oilfield and Kazakhstan's Kashagan oilfield have lowered their outputs in August due to repair works as well.
