Russia has ordered the closure of two of the three moorings at the key oil export terminal on the Black Sea, which handles Kazakhstan’s oil shipments. This move could severely disrupt the country’s crude exports if the shutdown lasts more than a few days.
The closure came after Russia’s Federal Agency for Transport Supervision conducted urgent safety inspections following the December 2024 oil spill in the Kerch Strait. On Monday, Russia instructed the immediate shutdown of the SPM-1 and SPM-2 moorings at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal, which is located at the Novorossiysk port on Russia’s Black Sea coast. CPC confirmed the shutdown in a statement.
The CPC operates the pipeline that runs from the Caspian coast in northwest Kazakhstan to Novorossiysk, which handles most of Kazakhstan’s crude exports. The oilfields in Kazakhstan, operated by major international companies such as Chevron, supply much of this oil.
Chevron and ExxonMobil affiliates are minority stakeholders in CPC, with the Russian Federation holding the largest share of 24%.
In compliance with the Russian order, CPC halted operations at the SPM-1 and SPM-2 moorings and will keep them offline until the identified issues are fixed. For now, all oil transshipment will be handled by the SPM-3 mooring, which was commissioned in 2014.
If the shutdown continues for more than a week, it could cut Kazakhstan’s oil exports by more than half, according to trading sources.
The disruption comes at a time when Kazakhstan, part of the OPEC+ group, achieved a record high in crude production in March. This despite the country’s ongoing struggle to meet OPEC+ quotas, which it has been exceeding for years. Kazakhstan faces challenges in convincing major international oil companies like Chevron to reduce production after years of significant investment in oilfield development.
Amid tensions with both OPEC+ and the oil majors, Kazakhstan announced last month that its energy minister, Almassadam Satkaliyev, would step down to lead a newly formed atomic energy agency.
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