OREANDA-NEWS. EURO tanker with the deadweight of 157.5 thousand tons was moored at SPM-3 on the 16th of August. After the process operation to displace water from the third subsea crude pipeline the vessel received on board 135.5 thousand tons of CPC Blend crude oil.

CPC General Director Nikolay Brunich, William Simpson, Deputy General Director, Engineering and Projects, Marine Terminal Regional Manager Alexander Krichun, Kevin Nance, Director, Expansion Project, Caspian Pipeline Consortium Marine Terminal and Control Systems, Chevron Neftegaz Inc. Novorossiysk Mayor Vladimir Sinyagovsky was invited to participate in the CPC milestone event.

Tankers at the Terminal have been loaded till now via two SPMs which allow lifting oil at a distance from the shore, also when the weather conditions are unfavorable. As of today this method of tanker loading is the most environmentally friendly and safe one, that is why it is used in the leading cargo ports of the world. In Russia similar mooring facilities exist only on Sakhalin. The Novorossiysk SPMs are, however, installed at a farther distance from the shore with the subsea crude pipelines laid almost two times deeper (56-58 meters). According to the specialists' calculations Novorossiysk SPMs are capable of weathering the strongest storm out of those recorded in the region throughout the last 100 years.

During the period of the Tengiz - Novorossiysk crude pipeline operation over 326 M tons of Kazakhstan and Russian oil has been loaded from the current two SPMs, including 30.6 M tons lifted last year. Commissioning of SPM-3 is a milestone of the Project to expand the throughput capacity of the Tengiz - Novorossiysk pipeline system, allowing for significant increase of the crude oil shipment through CPC Terminal and bring it, after the completion of the Project, to the planned 67 M tons per annum, and up to 76 M tons with the injection of drag reducing agents.

The Consortium's performance indicators have never prevailed over the industrial safety, health protection and ensuring favorable environmental situation within the Marine Terminal - on the Black Sea shore. As CPC General Director Nikolay Brunich noted at the ceremony on the occasion of the first tanker loading at SPM-3, the commissioning of the new single point mooring would by no means affect the environmental balance in the holiday resort so much loved by the Russian citizens.

In his turn, Novorossiysk Mayor Vladimir Sinyagovsky pinpointed with satisfaction that throughout all the time - since the completion of the construction and subsequent operation of CPC Marine Terminal - the Company had never once allowed for a situation which could have entailed undesirable environmental consequences.

The accident-free operation of the Terminal is the result of use of the state-of-the-art technologies and equipment, and also high culture of operation and labor protection. It stands to reason that CPC Marine Terminal has become the three-time winner of the International Prize “Oil Terminal” in the nominations: “Best Technological Equipment”, “Reliable Partner” and “Stability 2012”.

CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects in the energy industry with participation of foreign capital on the CIS territory. The length of the pipeline connecting the oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the Marine Terminal near Novorossiysk is 1,511 km. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with single point moorings which allow for safe tanker lifting at a considerable distance from the shore, also when the weather conditions are unfavorable.

The Expansion Project includes rehabilitation of 5 existing and construction of 10 additional pump stations (2 in the Republic of Kazakhstan and 8 in the Russian Federation), six new storage tanks (100,000 cu.m each) in addition to the existing four near Novorossiysk and a third SPM at the CPC Marine Terminal, and also the replacement of an 88 km pipeline section in Kazakhstan with a larger diameter pipe. The total amount of the Project investments will be USD 5.4 billion.