OREANDA-NEWS. May 3, 2012. Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk loaded 2.906 MT of crude oil for export in April 2012, up 6.7% on April 2011. So its last month's throughput was back up to reach the monthly average of record liftings in 2010 when the CPC Marine Terminal exported almost 35 MT using DRA.

In total,  the CPC Marine Terminal has loaded over 285 million tons of crude oil since the pipeline was commissioned in October 2001. CPC is currently implementing aT Expansion project to bring its capacity up to 67 MTA. A number of Expansion Phase 1 facilities are planned to be completed this year. New capacities will be commissioned at the pump stations that are being upgraded. To tie-in the new equipment CPC has developed a special schedule of system shutdowns in May, August and October this year,  lasting 3 days each.

By using available storage tanks and optimizing tanker loading, CPC will minimize capacity throughput reductions during those months. Once completed, all Phase 1 facilities will result in 35 MTA incremental capacity without DRA. Additional crude oil injections after completion of Phase 1 are guaranteed under CPC's ship-or-pay agreements with the shippers.

The CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects with foreign capital in the CIS. The length of the pipeline connecting oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk is 1,511 km. CPC's Marine Terminal is equipped with Single Point Moorings that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, including bad weather conditions.

The Expansion Project includes upgrades of 5 existing pump stations and construction of 10 additional ones (2 in the Republic of Kazakhstan and 8 in the Russian Federation), six crude oil storage tanks near Novorossiysk, as well as third single point mooring at the CPC Marine Terminal and replacement of 88 km of pipelines in Kazakhstan with a larger diameter pipe. The total amount of the Project investments will be USD  5.4 billion.

CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation (represented by Transneft - 24% and CPC Company - 7 %) - 31%; Republic of Kazakhstan (represented by Kazmunaygaz - 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC - 1.75%) - 20.75%; 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 Holding Limited - 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. - 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC - 1.75%.