Caspian Pipeline Consortium operates at two of three Black Sea oil loading points

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is operating at two of the three moorings at its Black Sea export terminal after a Russian court lifted restrictions on its infrastructure, it said on Wednesday, easing worries about a drop in Kazakh oil output and exports.

The CPC usually utilizes two of its three moorings, keeping one as a backup. It said it will give further information later about a resumption of operations at its third mooring, Single Point Mooring-2 (SPM-2).

A source close to the CPC said the restrictions on one of the moorings still put a strain on its operations and exports.

The court ruled on Friday that the CPC’s terminal facilities should not be suspended, overturning a decision by the transport watchdog to halt two of three moorings after a snap inspection related to a massive fuel spill in December.

The resumption of loading from one of the moorings will help avert a potential fall in Kazakhstan’s oil production and supplies via the CPC, which accounts for around 80 percent of the country’s oil exports.

Expected Black Sea CPC Blend oil exports for April were still revised down to 1.6 million barrels per day, or 6.2 million metric tons, from 1.7 million bpd in the preliminary plan, according to two industry sources.

The decline in loading is due to a fall in Russian oil exports via the CPC, the sources said, as there will be no supplies from the oil depot in the Krasnodar region, where there was a large fire in March after a drone attack.

The CPC has been in the spotlight since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The consortium closed all but one of its mooring points several times in 2022 due to damage, severely cutting exports via the route.

The pipeline is a major oil export route for Kazakhstan, which – due mainly to rising production from the giant Chevron-led Tengiz oilfield – has been breaching export quotas within the OPEC+ producer group, which includes OPEC and Russia.

On Thursday, OPEC+ decided to raise output ahead of schedule, signaling the group was confident non-compliant members would reduce output in the coming weeks.