ON FEBRUARY 27, 2018, THE 5-THOUSANDTH TANKER WAS LOADED AT CPC MARINE TERMINAL IN YUZHNAYA OZEREEVKA SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF CPC OPERATIONS. THE MILESTONE TANKER IS ‘NAUTILUS’ OWNED BY THE SHIPPER ‘TENGIZCHEVROIL’. THE TANKER LOADING WAS PERFORMED AS EXPECTED, AND AFTER ALL COMPLETED FORMALITIES THE TANKER LEFT THE TERMINAL SEA AREA. NIKOLAY GORBAN, CPC GENERAL DIRECTOR, TOLD THE NOVOROSSIYSK WORKER NEWSPAPER ABOUT THIS MILESTONE.
- Nikolay Nikolaevich, is the 5-thousandth tanker a milestone for CPC?
- Yes, it is an important event. It is a significant achievement for the CPC close-knit and extremely professional team working at our crude oil transportation facilities from Tengiz to Novorossiysk. Almost 530 million tons of crude oil have been moved and 5,000 tankers have been loaded, and it was all done in a reliable manner without emergencies and incidents related to oil spills in strict compliance with HSE requirements. The steady loading nearby Novorossiysk is provided by the CALM single point mooring (SPM) units, which are safer than shore berths and capable to load tankers even in adverse weather conditions.
- How much time has passed between the loading of the first and the 5-thousandth tankers?
- More than 17 years have passed between the loading of the first and 5-thousandth tankers. The first tanker was loaded at MT in October 2001. Over the first year of the pipeline system operation CPC loaded about 100 tankers. In 2008, the 1500-th and in 2013 the 3,000-th tankers were lifted. In February 2016, the 4,000-th tanker was processed at MT, and now we have achieved the milestone of 5,000-th tanker.
The commencement of CPC operations became a significant event not only for the CPC team but also for the worldwide crude oil transportation sector as a new oil transportation route from large fields in Western Kazakhstan to world markets was opened. Please be reminded that nowadays about 75% of Kazakhstani crude oil for export is transported via this pipeline. No doubt, that CPC is the most beneficial oil transportation route in Caspian region with the lowest tariff of USD 38 per ton. It was achieved, in particular, due to a shorter transportation distance as compared, for example, to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
- It is easy to see that less and less time is passing from one milestone tanker to another. What is the reason for this?
- It is true because as the designed CPC throughput per the Initial Construction Project (ICP) was 2 million tons per month. As you know, our monthly MT liftings have been exceeding 5 million tons since the end of 2017. It became possible due to CPC Expansion Project, which started in 2011 and finished in 2017. Over this period a large-scale task was accomplished - 88 km of pipeline replaced, five brownfield pump stations upgraded, Marine Terminal acquired a third SPM, six extra 100,000m3 tanks for crude oil storage and ten greenfield pumps stations in Russia and Kazakhstan constructed. As a result, the CPC throughput was increased two-fold up to 67 MMTA.
In 2017, CPC transported a total of 55.1 million tons, which is 24.4% more than the volume transported in 2016. A number of factors contributed to the significant growth in crude oil transportation volumes, i.e., the completion of Expansion Project and started development of Kashagan and Filanovsky fields in the Caspian region.
- How much has Expansion Project contributed to the increase in Marine Terminal capacity?
In February 2014, upon commissioning of the third single point mooring (SPM-3) unit in Yuzhnaya Ozereevka (Krasnodar Krai) CPC Offshore Facilities got the configuration capable of shipping more than 70 million tons of crude oil per year. Now CPC can load two-three tankers simultaneously at the rate of 24,000 tons per hour. In 2016, the upgrade of MT Tank Farm was completed. Now its total capacity reached 1 million tons and it has become one of the largest facilities of such kind in Russia. This work was performed in difficult mountain conditions requiring large-scale development of heavy rock. As this construction was done nearby the tanks in operation it posed additional problems, and utility lines and process pipelines were crossed with all necessary safeguards. All these tasks were fulfilled successfully and safely.
- Does the increased CPC pipeline throughput entail excessive environmental risks?
- On the contrary, upon Expansion Project such risks have considerably reduced. I will give you an example - irrespective of the growth of crude oil transportation volumes CPC nominal environmental charges are constantly going down. The pipeline control system has become more robust - dispatchers received a more reliable and up-to-date SCADA system, the data transfer rate along the pipeline route increased 25-fold. Thanks to Expansion Project all PSs are currently equipped with surge relief systems, close drains, sewage treatment facilities for household and industrial waste and storm water treatment. CPC oil tanks have floating roofs that prevent emissions.
- It is evident that the increase in the pipeline throughput leads to new jobs and extra tax receipts for federal and regional budgets. What other impact has CPC on social and economic development?
- CPC believes that high level of social responsibility is intrinsic to present-day business, and every organization must contribute to better well-being of the communities where it operates. For quite a time CPC has been maintaining close cooperation with Krasnodar Krai and Novorossiysk Administrations on a lot of social matters enhancing local living standards. CPC provides charity funding for construction and upgrade of schools, health care centers, kindergartens, sports grounds, and comfortable means of transport.
Only in 2017, CPC charity aid to this hero city exceeded RUR 70 million; in particular, outpatient clinic No.2 was opened upon upgrade, very expensive diagnostic equipment was supplied to city hospital No. 1.
Moreover, the upgrade of the community center “Kuban” in the village of Tsemdolina (the project value is about RUR 47.6 million) is almost completed; it is planned to implement in 2018 the construction of the Pobeda complex for archery classes and children tennis center for the total amount of RUR 51.1 million under charity projects.
CPC allocated more than RUR 700 million to Novorossiysk during our cooperation.
If we speak in general about the CPC charity program in Kuban, in 2017 CPC implemented here 11 social projects and programs exceeding RUR 200 million, and over the total period of CPC cooperation with Krasnodar Krai the company spent about RUR 1.5 billion on different social projects.
Novorossiysk worker, February 27, 2018