A working meeting between Bolat Akchulakov, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Nikolay Gorban, General Director of Caspian Pipeline Consortium, was held on 18 April 2022 in the CPC Moscow office, according to the company’s statment.
At the meeting the Kazakhstani side was also presented by Magzum Mirzagaliev, Chairman of NC KazMunaiGaz Board of Directors, and Daniyar Berlibayev, Chairman of CPC Board of Directors, Deputy Chairman of the KazMunayGaz Board of Directors. From the CPC side the meeting was attended by Vladimiar Shmakov, General Manager, Field Operations, Serikkali Murinov, General Manager, Oil Movement and Commerce, and Kairgeldy Kabyldin, Deputy General Director, RK Government Relations.
The parties discussed the progress of and potential deadlines for repair of the systems of Single Point Moorings (SPM). In addition, the matters of supply of foreign components for equipment and facilities of the CPC Marine Terminal to ensure safe and regular crude transshipment were also discussed.
Nikolay Gorban noted during the meeting that in 2021 in the course of the routine operation the Marine Terminal was simultaneously loading from two SPMs for 48% of operation time. During other periods, one SPM was used for loading, depending on weather conditions, tanker approach time and scheduled repairs.
The General Director also informed the Minister of the unscheduled field inspection of CPC facilities by the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostekhnadzor) aimed to evaluate the technical condition of CPC facilities, including the Marine Terminal.
The inspection is being conducted by instruction of Victoria Abramchenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, with the view to analyze the causes of damage of SPM-2 and SPM-3 in March 2022, and also as part of the federal state supervision in the field of industrial safety.
On March 21 and 22, 2022, after a period of adverse weather conditions, equipment faults on SPM-3 and SPM-2 were found. SPM-3 had a damage in the form of carcass displacement of one of the floating hoses. On SPM-2, hoses 9 and 13 of the inner string were damaged. SPM-2 and SPM-3 are still removed from service. As of April 14, 2022, SPM-2 and SPM-3 systems have been flushed for further repairs.
After its removal from service SPM-1 was put back into service on March 24, 2022. As the tanks are full and two SPMs cannot operate simultaneously, the Consortium has been forced to accept crude oil from the Shippers at a lower flowrate.
Timely damage detection and equipment removal from service made it possible to exclude an emergency oil spill in the Black Sea water area that was evidenced by the monitoring by Rosprirodnadzor’s specialists.
At the end of the meeting, the parties discussed relevant topics of international cooperation in the transportation of energy resources, and agreed to cooperate in sharing best practices in industrial, environmental and occupational safety with Kazakhstani companies operating in the fuel and energy complex.
CPC Pipeline System is one of the major investment projects with foreign capital in energy sector in the CIS. The length of the Tengiz – Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km. This route transports over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export crude, as well as crude from Russian oil fields, including those in the Caspian Region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPMs) that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, also amid poor weather conditions.
CPC Shareholders: Federal Agency for State Property Management represented by Transneft (trust management) – 24%, CPC Company – 7%, KazmunayGas – 19%, Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%, Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company – 15%, LUKARCO B.V. - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company– 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited– 7.5%, BG Overseas Holding Limited– 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. S.ar.l. – 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.