Loading facilities for exports of Kazakh CPC Blend crude oil are sufficient to meet current shipper requirements, the operator of the facilities in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk said Aug. 25 following the discovery of cracks in two out of three loadings systems.
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Register NowIn a statement, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium said one of the three single-point mooring (SPM) systems had been inspected for any evidence of cracking affecting the other two systems and was deemed fit for service.
"The subsea equipment of the single-point mooring system was approved as fit for further service without limits, which allows the fulfilment of the current requirements of crude shippers," CPC said.
The discovery of the defects in two of the three SPMs earlier in August was the latest in a series of difficulties for Kazakhstan's oil industry, which relies on the CPC route across southern Russia to Novorossiisk for the bulk of its exports.
However, Kazakh upstream production has been in any case limited due to maintenance at one plant at the Tengiz field, the country's highest crude oil source, as well as ongoing investigation of a gas leak at facilities linked to the second-highest producing field, Kashagan.
The three CPC loading facilities have significant spare capacity, meaning in the past loading has continued at relatively high levels even from just one SPM.
The 'SPM-3,' that remains in operation is able to load 3.5 million mt/month, or almost 890,000 b/d, CPC said previously.
Nevertheless, the suspension of loadings from two SPMs to deal with cracks in buoyancy tanks used to position subsea hoses will be a source of concern, given worries over Black Sea shipping due to the war in Ukraine and a series of issues with the CPC consortium in recent months.
Loadings were halted for several days in March and then resumed at reduced levels for the best part of a month to allow repairs following storms in the northeast Black Sea; the latest defects to be discovered have been attributed to the same storm damage.
Work to survey the seabed for World War II munitions also caused a reduction in capacity in June, and a July court order relating to an earlier oil spill briefly threatened to halt loadings.
CPC has said the repairs needed to the buoyancy tanks will take around a month once a contractor has been found and all conditions are in place, including suitable weather. Selection of a contractor is "practically complete," CPC said.
Platts assessed CPC Blend at a $3.3/b discount to Dated Brent on Aug. 24, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.