The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) marine terminal in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk has shipped 21.1 million tons of crude oil in 192 tankers from the beginning of 2024 to 24 April.
Nikolai Gorban, the general director of the consortium, announced this to the Portnews industry publication, the CFTS portal reports.
According to him, two of the three Single Point Mooring (SPM) facilities at the terminal are currently in operation and one has been shut down for scheduled maintenance.
He said that oil transportation by the CPC increased by 8% to 63.5 million tons in 2023, compared to 2022, and that it plans to ship 70 million tons of crude oil through the terminal in Novorossiysk in 2024.
The CPC terminal on the Black Sea is the main export route for Kazakh crude oil, accounting for two-thirds of the crude oil exported through it. Russian crude oil accounts for the remaining third.
The shareholders of the consortium include multinational corporations, including American. The list of shareholders is as follows: Russia with 31% of the shares (24% managed by the Transneft pipeline transport company and 7% on the books of the CPC company), Kazakhstan with 20.75% (represented by KazMunaiGas with 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC with 1.75%), Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Co. with 15%, LukArco B.V. with 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Co. with 7.5%, Rosneft - Shell Caspian Ventures Ltd with 7.5%, BG Overseas Holdings Limited with 2%, Eni International (N.A.) N.V. with 2%, and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC with 1.75%.
As the CFTS portal reported previously, Russian seaports increased their cargo transshipment volumes by 5% to 883.8 million tons in 2023, compared with 2022, despite the sanctions and restrictions imposed by Western countries.
Crude oil and petroleum products account for a significant share of Russia's maritime exports, which help to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. For example, from December 2022, when the EU introduced a mechanism for capping the price of seaborne Russian crude oil and petroleum products, until the end of February 2024, about 11.4 million tons (or 82.9 million barrels) of Russian crude oil were delivered from Russian Black Sea ports to ports and transshipment points in the EU. An additional 10.6 million tons were shipped from the Black Sea to the EU in the form of petroleum products.
The port of Novorossiysk increased cargo handling by 6% to 43 million tons in the first quarter of 2024.
In connection with this, the European Union has announced that its 14th package of sanctions against Russia will likely include new restrictions on Russia in the maritime sector.
