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(Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which accounts for 1% of global crude supply, will not return to full export capacity until at least December 11 after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a key part of its terminal, two industry sources told Reuters.
The CPC terminal, which handles around 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, was damaged by a Ukrainian naval drone attack on Nov. 29, sending global oil prices up over $1 a barrel.
The CPC, which includes Russian, Kazakh and U.S. shareholders, said the attack briefly halted operations because of serious damage to Single-Point Mooring (SPM)-2 – essentially a floating buoy which connects to tankers to load oil – at the Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal at Novorossiysk.
The terminal has three SPMs located some 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from the shore. Usually, two SPMs load, while one stays idle as a backup.
SPM-1 remains operational, meaning the CPC is now exporting oil at around half its capacity. SPM-3 has been under maintenance since the middle of November.
Five industry sources said last week the CPC aimed to complete repairs on SPM-3 ahead of schedule.
Two sources told Reuters on Monday that SPM-3 was not expected to be back in full operation before December 11-13 due to challenging weather and complications with diving.
CPC declined to comment.
SPM-2 repairs could take months, though the precise time frame for repairs or its replacement is still being evaluated, sources said.
CPC had already diverted some of the volumes to other destinations, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, however, it has no major options for re-routing bulk of its oil.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Bernadette Baum
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