Kazakhstan considers building alternative to CPC pipeline

The construction of a new pipeline toward the Caspian Sea to export oil may take Kazakhstan five years, according to Bloomberg citing Bolat Akchulakov, the country’s ministry of energy who spoke at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas.

«Akchulakov said Kazakhstan is planning a new pipeline that would take its crude to the Caspian Sea for export. But developing such a project could take five years and would also require a new fleet of oil tankers,» the news agency reported.

The article also highlights that according to Kazakhstan’s energy minister the country’s «number one problem,» is how to diversify its oil routes so that the nation isn’t dependent on Russia to export its crude.

So far, the vast majority of oil produced in Kazakhstan goes for export via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (Russia, Kazakhstan and big oil companies) that connects Kazakhstan with an oil terminal in the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.

At the end of February, the CPC suspended the shipment of oil from the sea terminal in Novorossiysk due to bad weather conditions on the Black Sea. As a result, the oil terminal reduced its capacity to take oil, although it hasn’t stopped the process completely.