Emergency oil spill response drill was held at the Tengiz-Novorossiysk trunk oil pipeline crossing with the Ural River on February 28, 2025. 18 specialists of JSC KazTransOil, CPC Contractor, and 12 equipment items were involved in the drill.
According to the drill script, at 7:04 MSK PS Atyrau Shift Supervisor received information on detected oil spill from the oil pipeline with hydrocarbons getting into the watercourse. Dispatcher of the Operations Control Center (OCC) in Novorossiysk and other persons were promptly informed of the incident in compliance with the Communication Chart. OCC Dispatcher simulated remote shutdown of the “damaged” section and its isolation with ball valves.
The forces and equipment from the “Atyrau” Emergency Response Station, the fire brigade based at PS Atyrau and CPC-K environmental monitoring group arrived at the site. They simulated detection of the “product spill” site on the right bank of the Ural River in 30m from the waterline with the product ingress in ice and water.
Drill participants cleaned the ice from snow and inspected the ice status using the drilled control holes. Then they arranged an ice free area followed by installation of the “Rubezh-Zima-150” floating booms. The second boom was installed in 4km downstream the Ural River.
CPC Eastern Region Management observed the drill gave high rating to the held activity. They noted good training of KazTransOil personnel and their confident skills in operating all technical means. All staff participated in the water drill had life vests, hard hats, special clothing and footwear of the approved design as well as other personal protective equipment, which, if necessary, was ready to use.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium conducts at least 10 large-scale oil spill response and firefighting drills annually. CPC conducts large-scale exercises on a regular basis, thus allowing to assess the readiness of CPC crude pipeline operation teams, Security and dispatchers of the Consortium to emergencies.
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CPC Pipeline System is one of the major projects in energy sector in the CIS. The length of the Tengiz – Novorossiysk pipeline is 1,511 km. This route transports over two-thirds of all Kazakhstan export oil, and crude from Russian oil fields, including those in the Caspian Region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM) that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore.
CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation – 24 %, IC CPC Company (LLC) – 7%, NC KazMunayGas JSC – 19%, Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%, Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company – 15%, Lukoil International GmbH - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company– 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited– 7.5%, BG Overseas Holdings Limited– 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. S.ar.l. – 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.