SPM-3, the only single point mooring being used by Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) at its Marine Terminal, with SPM-1 and SPM-2 out of service, can handle up to 3.5 million tonnes of oil per month, CPC told IAA PortNews.
According to the company, SPM-3 is operating in intensive regime with “quite a tight schedule of oil shipments”. Therefore, it is necessary to wind a window for diver inspection to check for damages similar to those found at SPM-1 and SPM-2. “Shipments are currently paused only at night time when diving operations are impossible. We are in a dialogue with shippers to shift handling of tankers so that a day-time window could be arranged for diving. Hopefully, the inspection will be performed in a period through August 26,” said the CPC representative.
CPC has been operating two single point moorings from 2002, SPM-1 and SPM-2, and one single point mooring - from 2013, SPM-3. On 22 August 2022, CPC said that SPM-1 and SPM-2 are temporarily out of service due to cracks discovered by divers in subsea hose attachments to buoyancy tanks. The shareholders of the company were notified about the defects on the buoyancy tanks 1 and two on August 5 and 17 respectively. The CPC Marine Terminal is temporarily loading crude oil by using only SPM-3.
CPC says it will take one month to replace one SPM. However, this period can be changed depending on objective factors.
The CPC Pipeline System is one of CIS largest energy investment projects that involves foreign capital. The length of the Tengiz – Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km. This route moves over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export oil along with crude from Russian fields including those in the Caspian region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM), allowing tankers to be loaded safely at significant distance offshore, including in poor weather conditions
CPC Shareholders: Federal Agency for State Property Management represented by Transneft (trustee) – 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. - 2%, and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.
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CPC says SPM-1 and SPM-2 are temporarily out of service due to cracks discovered by divers >>>>