Tengiz Oilfield Power Facility Fires Damage Kazakhstan's CPC Oil Exports

Kazakhstan's planned oil exports could fall by as much as 35% this month via its main route through Russia, four trading sources have told Reuters, as the giant Tengiz oilfield slowly recovers from fires at power facilities in January.

U.S. oil major Chevron leads the Tengizchevroil (TCO) consortium that operates the field.

Oil exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system, which crosses into Russia en route to the Black Sea, could drop from the preliminary schedule of about 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 1.1 million bpd if the production recovery at Tengiz continues at a sluggish pace, the sources said.

The sources declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

Tengiz was shut down for most of January after fires hit its power facilities. Kazakhstan has been investigating the incidents.

DISRUPTIONS ON CPC PIPELINE

TCO reiterated to Reuters that it "is working to progressively increase output as conditions allow".

The company also declined to comment on whether it has lifted a force majeure on CPC Blend crude supplies issued after the Tengiz's shutdown, saying it does not comment on specific details of its operations.

The Kazakh Energy Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

CPC declined to comment.

The pipeline, which carries more than 1% of global oil supply, has faced repeated disruptions in recent months, including a drone attack, adverse weather, repairs at its single-point mooring (SPM-3) and the production outages at Tengiz.

January CPC Blend oil loadings fell to just 880,000 bpd, nearly half of the initial plan, the sources said.

An industry source said Tengiz oil supply to the CPC pipeline was around 30,000 metric tons per day in the first days of February.

Sources familiar with the matter also told Reuters in late January that production at Tengiz was expected to reach about 33,000 tons, or roughly 260,000 bpd, equivalent to around 26% of full capacity, by February 4.

"If Tengiz restores full output within days, we may see more exports, but we don’t count on it," a source involved in trading CPC Blend crude said on Friday.

TCO cancelled the loading of up to 14 Suezmax tankers from its initial February export plan after the output outage, two industry sources said.

Each Suezmax vessel can carry around 130,000 tons of crude. Some of the cancelled cargoes are now being reinstated.

The first TCO cargo from the CPC terminal this month is scheduled for loading on February 6 to 7, shipping data shows.

(Reuters)