Kazakhstan restarted crude exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium on Monday after the operator reopened its Black Sea marine terminal, ending a week-long suspension triggered by drone attacks. The halt had pushed the country's oil and gas condensate output down to about 1 million barrels per day on Sunday, against an average 2.16 million bpd in June.
Kazakhstan resumed crude exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) on Monday after the operator reopened its Black Sea marine terminal and resumed accepting crude from producers, ending a week-long suspension triggered by drone attacks, Kazakhstan's Astana Times reported. Two tankers were loading crude from the Chevron-led Tengizchevroil project at the Novorossiysk terminal, while producers resumed delivering oil into the CPC pipeline system, Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said.
The ministry added that export operations would continue subject to ongoing security assessments. CPC separately confirmed that pipeline operations resumed at 12:28 p.m. Moscow time.
Output halved while the terminal stood shut
Industry data cited by Reuters showed Kazakh oil and gas condensate production fell to 133,200 metric tons, or about 1 million barrels per day, on Sunday, down from an average 2.16 million bpd in June. The reopening follows last week's suspension of crude intake and tanker loadings at the terminal after repeated drone attacks on vessels operating at or near the facility.
Kazakhstan then ordered producers to curb output to prevent storage facilities from filling after access to the export system was cut off. However, the ministry did not indicate how quickly production would return to normal levels.
The route that carries more than 80% of Kazakh crude
The 1,500-kilometer CPC pipeline transports crude from Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield across southern Russia to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and carries more than 80% of Kazakhstan's crude exports. International producers including Chevron and ExxonMobil rely on the route to move Tengiz production to global markets.
LSEG vessel-tracking data cited by Reuters also placed the Chevron-chartered Suezmax tanker Asia at the terminal on Monday. Chevron told Reuters it continues to monitor the situation at CPC but declined to comment further.
Another supply risk for global oil flows
The disruption briefly removed more than 1 million bpd of Kazakh production from the market. That loss adds another crude oil supply risk while global flows remain under pressure from disruptions affecting both the Black Sea and Middle East shipping routes.
Source: Oilprice.com
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
