OREANDA-NEWS. CPC-R Board and CPC-K Extraordinary General Shareholders Meeting were held in Moscow on November 26.

The meetings approved the 2014 budget for both сompanies and a business plan directionally outlining cost forecasts for the next five years. An HSE update was presented.

The meeting participants discussed the current progress of the CPC Expansion Project, identified problem areas and reviewed schedule mitigation steps needed at some facilities to catch up with the delay.

The Shareholders approved an Internship Regulation that clearly defines the conditions for technical specialists to get this kind of professional training as interns at CPC pump stations (as deputy pump station supervisors and shift supervisors). The Internship Program is aimed at external candidates who already have management skills and work experience on similar sites. The program can also be accessed by existing high potential employees under the corporate career development and succession pool development programs. The object of the internship is to ensure the company has competent resources available at the time of commissioning additional Expansion Phase 2 and 3 pump stations.

In conclusion a CPC governance meeting schedule was approved for the next year.

The CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects with foreign capital in the energy sector in the CIS. The length of the pipeline connecting oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk is 1,511 km. The CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with single point moorings allowing to load tankers far offshore safely, including in bad weather conditions.

The Expansion Project includes upgrading 5 existing and building 10 additional pump stations (2 in Kazakhstan and 8 in Russia), constructing six crude oil storage tanks near Novorossiysk in addition to the existing four (100,000 m3 each) Novorossiysk and a third SPM at the CPC Marine Terminal, and also replacing an 88 km pipeline section in Kazakhstan with a larger diameter pipe. The total investment into the Project will amount to USD 5.4 billion