US lifts ban on oilfield services for Caspian Pipeline Consortium and Tengizchevroil
The U.S. has granted permanent exemptions for oilfield services linked to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and Tengizchevroil (TCO), according to the Interfax news agency.
On May 15, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a general license authorizing all transactions related to the CPC and TCO projects. The previous license with similar provisions is set to expire on June 28, 2025.
In January, the U.S. banned its companies from providing oil production services in Russia, including both exports and re-exports. These restrictions on American companies operating in Russia took effect on Feb. 27.
The CPC connects oil fields in western Kazakhstan and Russian oil fields on the Caspian shelf to a marine terminal in Novorossiysk. Spanning 1,511 kilometers, the pipeline is a critical route for Kazakhstan, carrying more than 80% of its total oil exports.
The shareholders of the CPC include:
- Russia’s Federal Agency for State Property Management, represented by Transneft (trust management) – 24%.
- CPC Company – 7%.
- KazMunayGas – 19%.
- Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%.
- Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company – 15%.
- LukArco B.V. – 12.5%.
- Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company – 7.5%.
- Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited – 7.5%.
- BG Overseas Holdings Limited – 2%.
- Eni International N.A. N.V. S.a.r.l. – 2%.
- Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.
The stakeholders of TCO, the operator of the Tengiz oil field, include Chevron (50%), ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc. (25%), Kazakhstan’s government through KazMunayGas (20%) and Lukoil (5%). Tengiz holds total proven oil reserves of 3.1 billion tons (25 billion barrels).
