Kazakhstan will accelerate the delivery of vital offshore oil-loading equipment to help restore exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) after a recent attack disrupted operations at its Black Sea terminal, Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov said on Monday.
Speaking at a news conference in Astana, Akkenzhenov said two single-point moorings (SPMs) ordered from the United Arab Emirates will now arrive in January—three months earlier than initially planned—to support repairs at the CPC terminal near Russia’s port of Novorossiysk.
The SPMs are floating offshore loading systems that allow oil tankers to load crude while anchored at sea, making them critical to the consortium’s export capacity.
“This is complex technological equipment,” Akkenzhenov said, noting that the moorings must be transported and installed at Novorossiysk before operations can fully resume.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is Kazakhstan’s primary oil export route, carrying crude from the Tengiz field and other producers to global markets via Russia’s Black Sea coast. Any prolonged disruption threatens both Kazakhstan’s export revenues and global oil supply flows.
Repairs underway amid harsh conditions
Akkenzhenov said work is ongoing to restore damaged infrastructure, but harsh weather conditions in the Black Sea are slowing progress. Strong southeasterly winds and waves reaching two meters have complicated underwater repair operations.
“The wind creates a current that makes diving extremely difficult,” he said, explaining that divers must descend in a special pressurised dome before exiting underwater to carry out repairs on the moorings.
Efforts are focused on two damaged systems. Repairs are underway at SPM-3, where hoses are being replaced, a step the minister said is essential for restoring the terminal’s full operating capacity.
Divers are also working on SPM-2, which sustained severe damage in an attack late last month.
Akkenzhenov said the mooring has a hole measuring more than two meters across, requiring extensive work to restore buoyancy before technicians can assess damage to internal processing equipment.
“If we succeed in carrying out repairs, SPM-2 will also be put back into operation,” he said.
The attack halted exports
Crude shipments via the CPC were temporarily halted after a November 29 drone attack near Novorossiysk. The consortium said unmanned boats damaged one of the terminal’s single-point moorings, prompting local authorities to suspend loading and related operations for safety reasons.
The incident quickly escalated into a diplomatic issue. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry issued a formal protest, calling the strike “another deliberate attack” on critical export infrastructure and urging Ukraine to take steps to prevent similar incidents.
Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling for international condemnation and warning that such actions threaten freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
Ukraine, however, denied targeting Kazakhstan. Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said Kiev had taken Astana’s concerns into account and stressed that Ukrainian operations were aimed at countering what he described as Russia’s “full-scale aggression,” not harming third countries or their infrastructure.
Strategic stakes
The CPC route handles the bulk of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, making the rapid restoration of operations a strategic priority for Astana.
The decision to bring forward delivery of the UAE-built SPMs underscores the urgency of stabilising exports amid growing security risks in the Black Sea.
Energy officials say once repairs are completed and the new moorings are installed, the terminal is expected to return to full capacity, easing pressure on Kazakhstan’s energy sector and global supply chains already strained by geopolitical tensions.
