ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakhstan expects the Caspian Pipeline Consortium to resume shipping crude from the Central Asian nation within a month, Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov told the Atameken Business Channel television station on Thursday.
During that time, although it may reroute some crude towards Caspian tanker shipments and pipelines going to Russia’s Samara and to China, Kazakhstan will not be able to fully compensate for the drop in exports due to the CPC shutdown, he said.
Oil exports from the CPC terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast stopped fully on Wednesday after damage caused by a major storm and continued bad weather.
The pipeline, partly owned by U.S. oil majors Chevron and ExxonMobil, exported 53-54 million tonnes of Kazakh crude last year, Akchulakov said, out of total exports of 67.6 million tonnes.
(Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Jason Neely)
