The CPC pipeline system enters the new year 2012 with a 99% operating factor. This achievement is enabled by reducing and optimizing the use of pipeline shutdowns, which in turn is ensured by professional efforts of Operations personnel.
The increased reliability of the system is also promoted by major repairs with coating replacement in progress in Kazakhstan. A 70 kilometer section was completed last year.
Another important milestone was achieved in late 2011 with a total of 10 million manhours worked without lost time incidents between CPC and contractors combined. That success came as a result of CPC's consistently and universally applying high safety standards.
The efficiency of CPC’s security is indicated by the number of illegal taps. The trend in recent years is towards a sharp drop in the number of attempted illegal taps on the pipeline. Last year, same as in 2010, there was just one illegal tap made. It was discovered shortly after and promptly removed without any environmental impact.
In 2011 CPC shipments totalled 34.2 MTA including the Tengiz to Atyrau section. CPC Marine Terminal lifted about 32 MTA. That figure is less than in 2010 but the reduction was expected and due to some objective reasons. The key one being one of the shippers rerouting crude that used to be injected into CPC at the Kropotkin pump station elsewere. At the same time the reduction in movement volumes did not result in any significant drop in tariff revenues as the distance from the Kropotkin pump station to the Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk is not that great.
The resulting 2011 CPC tariff revenues amounted to USD 1.12 billion.
The most significant event of the year was undoubtedly the Expansion Project groundbreaking on July 1. Work is currently in progress on all Phase 1 sites: an 88 km pipeline section in Kazakhstan is being replaced with a larger diameter pipe, upgrades are in progress on Kazakh and Russian brownfield pump stations and preparations are continuing to install a third single point mooring and build another three tanks at the CPC Marine Terminal.
The new year 2012 will also be full of significant events. The plan is to have Expansion Phase 1 completed by the end of the year which will allow to ship 35 MTA without DRA. With DRA and subject to availability of shipper injections CPC will be able to move even more. Phase 2 work will also start in 2012, even before Phase 1 is completed. Those activities will start as early as in the first quarter of the year.
The CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects with foreign capital in the former USSR. The pipeline connects oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk and is 1,511 km long.
CPC’s Marine Terminal is equipped with Single Point Moorings that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, including bad weather conditions.
The CPC project was originally developed with a view to future increase of its initial capacity by 2.5 times up to 67 MTA (76 MTA with DRA).
The Expansion Project includes upgrading the existing pump stations and building 10 new additional ones (2 in Kazakhstan and 8 in Russia), six oil storage tanks near Novorossiysk and a third single point mooring at the CPC Marine Terminal, and also the replacement of an 88 km pipeline section in Kazakhstan with a larger diameter pipe. The total amount of investment into the project will equal USD 5.4 bn. The expansion is planned to be completed in 2015.
CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation (represented by Transneft – 24% and CPC Company – 7 %) – 31%; Republic of Kazakhstan (represented by KMG – 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%) – 20.75%; Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company - 15%, LUKARCO B.V. - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company – 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited – 7.5%, BG Overseas Holding Limited - 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. - 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.