Due to the ingress of chloride-contaminated oil into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Kazakhstan temporarily refused to export via an alternative route. Raw materials returned to transit through Russia — via the oil pipelines of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). There are still only two remote devices out of three working there, and tankers are being changed for loading near Novorossiysk — they are choosing large ones.
"Kazakhstan is redirecting crude oil exports from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to the Russian route of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium after contamination of Azeri Light's flagship Azerbaijani oil disrupted the Mediterranean export system," S&P Global Platts reports.
According to the agency, there have been no deliveries through Azerbaijan since the end of July, when it became known about the ingress of contaminated oil into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
AIS data of the vessels confirm that the supply of Kazakh oil for export through Azerbaijan has not resumed.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the main route for the export of Kazakh oil. At the same time, the CPC reported that only two outrigger berthing devices for loading tankers out of three will continue to operate at the sea terminal near Novorossiysk.
"Currently, work is underway on the planned replacement of floating and underwater hoses, starting from August 15 of this year. The VPU (third) was decommissioned for up to three weeks, subject to favorable weather conditions, as a factor affecting the safety of repair work,"the consortium reports.
Traders told S&P Global Platts that because of this, only larger Suezmax class tankers (120-200 thousand tons) will be loaded at the CPC marine terminal, and Aframax class vessels (80-120 thousand tons) will not be used yet.
The September program at the CPC terminal will include 46 cargoes for Suezmax tankers. According to the agency, this is comparable to the August plans, when 41 loads are used for Suezmax tankers and 11 loads for Aframax-class tankers.
As EADaily reported, Italian Eni announced the receipt of contaminated oil from Azerbaijan to its refineries, followed by Austrian OMV and the Czech division of Polish Orlen confirmed the import of raw materials with chlorides that did not have time to reach the refining facilities. In Romania, in turn, a state of emergency was introduced, as a batch of contaminated oil of 90 thousand tons forced OMV Petrom to take raw materials for its refineries from the country's strategic reserves.
"While the situation at the Ceyhan terminal is stabilizing, BTC continues to ship oil in Ceyhan, conducting a sampling program to ensure quality," a BP representative told S&P Global Platts.