Kazakh CPC Oil Exports Capped at 700,000 bpd After Russian Suspension

Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) blend oil exports have been capped at 1 million barrels per day, taking 700,000 bpd off the market, after Russia ordered the shutdown of two out of three moorings at the CPC main Black Sea oil export terminal.

The order went into force on April 1.

The Russian government has a 24% stake in CPC alongside minority shareholders Chevron and ExxonMobil.

The closure of the SPM-1 and SPM-2 moorings followed safety inspections by Russia’s Federal Agency for Transport Supervision, triggered by the December 2024 oil spill in the Kerch Strait.

CPC operates the pipeline that transports oil from northwest Kazakhstan to Russia’s Novorossiysk port, a key hub for Kazakhstan’s oil exports.

Russia’s move plays into the geopolitical situation surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful attempt to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Analysts projected that the suspension and capping of CPC exports would halve Kazakhstan’s crude oil exports. The cap, announced in the early hours of Wednesday, fulfills that prediction, taking the country’s CPC-blend exports from around 1.4 million bpd to 700,000.

Upstream cited an industry expert on Wednesday as saying that the Western operators of Kazakhstan’s largest oil projects may be forced to slash output by the end of this week unless the suspension is lifted.

The Russian move also comes as Kazakhstan struggles to comply with OPEC+ quotas, which it has continually exceeded over the past years due to the fact that is Western operators would not agree to limit production after investing billions to expand.

In March, Kazakhstan’s oil and gas condensate output hit a record high of 8.95 million metric tons, or 2.17 million bpd, as reported by Azerbaijan’s News.az. The increases were driven by increased output at the Tengiz oilfield, combined with steady CPC exports.

source: Oilprice.com

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