Major oil supplier calls for new export routes
Kazakhstan must diversify its oil supply routes, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Thursday, after Russia halted transit via its part of a major pipeline, citing technical violations.
Tokayev ordered the government to study the possibility of building a pipeline across the Caspian Sea that would bypass Russia in carrying Kazakh oil to Europe.
A Russian court on Wednesday ordered a 30-day suspension of the operation of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on the Black Sea, citing issues related to oil spills.
The CPC is a multinational oil transportation project involving Russia, Kazakhstan and a consortium of leading oil companies. The pipeline system mainly collects crude from the large oil fields of western Kazakhstan but also from Russia. Roughly 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports flow via the pipeline to the terminal in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, to be then shipped by sea to Europe and the US. The pipeline’s total capacity is over a million barrels of oil per day, which is 2.3% of the global seaborne crude trade.
The flow of oil via the Caspian Pipeline is continuing as normal on Thursday, Kazakh media report, citing the country’s Energy Ministry, adding that Kazakh and Russian authorities are working to resolve the issue.
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