The throughput capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium is being doubled. This year the volume of crude oil transported by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) shall hit the record figure of 43 mln. tons. But the next year it shall be possible to transfer up to 67 mln. tons of crude oil.
The construction of CRUDE OIL PIPELINE system of CPC was started in 1999 to deliver the crude oil from oil fields of Western Kazakhstan to the Black Sea shore. The Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline with the length of 1,5 thousand km. was built within two years. Besides, there was a partial use of infrastructure of the existing Guryev-Grozniy pipeline built during the USSR times. The provide for offloading of crude oil the Marine Terminal was built near Novorossiysk, within the vicinity of Yuzhnaya Ozereevka, with two single point moorings and the Tanks for 400 thousand tons. In 2004, beside the Kazakhstan oil CPC began to transport the Russian oil as well. By 2010 the total volume of transferred oil reached 35 mln. tons a year. However, yet at the construction of CPC it was clear that these capacities would not be sufficient. The production in the region was supposed to grow rapidly, first, because the western Kazakhstan had the largest deposits of crude oil in the country, and secondly, because the Caspian sea marine oil fields were being prepared for development.
The producers had to transport the considerable volumes of Kazakhstan oil to the seaports by railroad which is more expensive than by the pipeline. Last year the railroad transportation took around 6 mln. tons of western Kazakhstan oil.
Now the maximum tariff for transporting the crude oil by the pipeline from Tengiz amounts to 38 USD per ton, the cost amount for transporting from other places shall be calculated in direct ratio to distance to Novorossiysk.
In 2011 the CPC Company began its expansion – at the same time, within the territories of both countries. First of all, there was a partial replacement of pipeline in Kazakhstan which “Kazmuniagaz” brought in as one of its assets during the formation of Consortium. A new pipe of a bigger diameter was laid within the segment of 88 km long. The existing pump stations were retrofitted and the new stations were built, the number of which has been increased threefold for the last five years (now 15). Eleven of them are located in Russia. Now CPC has been finishing the second and the third phases of the pipeline expansion. In Kazakhstan, at the end of October, the PS-4 station was started, that allowed to receive the oil from Kashagan oil field. One more station will be commissioned in the second half of 2017. The new stations are also commissioned in Russia. The starting of PS-4A and PS-5A in Astrakhan oblast is scheduled for the first half of 2017. Then PS-8 will be commissioned in Krasnodar krai and PS-5 in Stavropol krai. And PS-2, located in Kalmykia, will be the last station which will be commissioned within the territory of RF.
Even this year the CPC will be ready to receive up to 52 tons of oil, and from the third quarter of 2017 it will be able to receive for 10 mln. tons more. The throughput capacity can be increased for 5 mln. tons with the use of drug reducing agents.
Currently CPC is transferring approximately half of the crude oil volume produced in Kazakhstan. During the last three years, the volume of production was falling, but in 2017 it is expected to grow for 6% - up to 80 mpln. tons. Now the major loading of the pipe is provided by Tengiz oil field wherefrom comes about 25 mln. tons of oil. The extracted deposits of Tengiz and of the neighboring Royal fields are estimated for 1 billion tons. Second largest Karachaganak field produces around 10 mln. tons a year. And the shareholders of Tengiz and Karachaganak projects are planning to increase the oil production. According to predictive information of Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy, already in the next year the production in Tengiz and Karachaganak shall reach 27,6 and 11,2 respectively.
But the main reserve for growth - giant Kashagan field with geological deposits of 4,8 billion tons of oil. The field is located within the Kazakhstan part of Caspian sea., approximately within 200 km from the sea shore. Three years ago the operator of the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) stopped the operation of Kashagan because of the leaks of associated gas in subsea pipelines. In October of this year the Consortium resumed the production. If there is no failures, then by the end of 2016 the CPC pipeline system will receive up to 1 mln. tons of Kashagan oil, in the next year – up to 9 mln. tons. According to predictive information of Kazakhstan ministry of energy, the oil production of Kashagan field will reach the peak of 13 million tons in the first phase of development by 2020.
Russian deliveries to CPC shall increase due to “LUKOIL”, which, in the autumn of the current year, launched the operation of the oil field named after V. Filanovskiy in the norther part of the Caspian Sea with extracted deposits of C1 + C2 category, around 129 mln. tons. In 2017 the Company is going to produce 4,4 mln. tons and by 2019 to reach the point of 6 mln. tons a year. Besides, this year, the “LUKOIL”, has redirected the crude oil to CPC pipeline from different Caspian oil field – named after Y. Korchagin, that was previously delivering the oil to the Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan pipeline system. The transportation to Novorossiysk will cost the Company less than to Turkish port. In order to implement this project, “LUKOIL” connected the Filanovskiy and Korchangin oil fields with pipeline. Next year the Company had made a request for transporting of 5,4 mln. tons of oil. The Company will gradually connect other discovered oil fields.
Also CPC receives about 5 mln tons from “Rosneft” which delivers the feedstock by railroad to the “Kavkazskaya”crude oil acceptance station in Krasnodar krai.
So, if there is no global changes in the oil market, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium will have a fairly good perspective for filling the pipeline with oil.
Besides
Caspian Pipeline Consortium was created in 1992. The largest shareholders – “Transneft” (24%), “KazMunaiGaz” (19%), Chevron (15%), “LUKOIL” (12,5%).
Russian newspaper, (Special edition «Oil Transportation”), December 20, 2016