A Russian court has fined Caspian pipeline Consortium 200,000 rubles (equivalent to $2,370) for violations related to oil transit, CPC informed on April 4.
However, the Russian court also ruled not to suspend the operation of facilities at the CPC oil export port in the Black Sea.
Reuters pointed out that this ruling helps to avoid the risk of a decline in Kazakhstan's oil production and supply exported via CPC, an export route that accounts for about 80% of the country's total oil exports.
Industry sources told Reuters that there have been a series of diplomatic activities between Russia and Kazakhstan regarding the operation of the CPC pipeline before the court issued a verdict.
Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft informed on April 3 that the head of Nikolai Tokarev Group met with General Director of Kazakhstan's state energy company KazMunayGaz, Askhat Khassenov, in Moscow. Both Transneft and KazMunayGaz are major shareholders of CPC. However, in the meeting statement, Transneft did not directly mention the CPC.
In early April, the Russian regulatory agency ordered the CPC to temporarily suspend operations at two of three locations for anchoring ships at export ports in the Black Sea following surprise inspections into a serious oil spill in December 2024.
After reviewing the inspection report, the Russian court ruled that the Russian joint venture of CPC was held liable and imposed an administrative fine of 200,000 rubles, but did not request a suspension of export activities, according to the CPC's announcement.
It is not yet clear when the CPC export port will return to normal operation.
It is expected that in April, oil exports via the CPC oil pipeline will reach 1.7 million barrels/day, equivalent to about 6.5 million tons.
The CPC oil pipeline is Kazakhstan's main oil export route. Due to increased oil production from the Tengiz oil giant, Kazakhstan has exceeded its export quotas among the OPEC+ countries. The OPEC+ group includes members of OPEC and Russia.
Several other members of OPEC+, including Saudi Arabia, have also pressured Kazakhstan to cut oil production to comply with quotas.
The 1,511km CPC pipeline connects oil fields in western Kazakhstan and Russian oil fields on the Caspie front with the port of Novorossiysk.
The CPC pipeline system is Kazakhstan's main oil export route, with more than 80% of oil pumped through the pipeline.
Currently, the CPC is capable of transporting about 72.5 million tons of oil per year from Kazakhstan and up to 83 million tons through Russia. The CPC has exported 63.01 million tonnes of oil, including 55 million tonnes from Kazakhstan in 2024.
