Russia has ordered the Black Sea terminal handling Kazakhstan’s oil exports pumped by U.S. majors Chevron and Exxon Mobil to close two of its three moorings amid a standoff between Kazakhstan and OPEC+ over excess production.
The operator of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which exports around 1% of global oil supply via the Russian terminal, said late on Monday that the two moorings were halted following snap inspections by Russia’s transport watchdog.
The stoppage could more than halve CPC exports if it lasts for longer than a week, trading sources told Reuters.
The Russian order to CPC came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was unhappy with Russia and the rate of progress in peace talks with Ukraine and threatened to impose secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil.
Kazakhstan has frequently exceeded its production quotas under a pact among OPEC+ producers, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, such as Russia.
However, it is finding it difficult to convince the companies operating its largest oilfields to reduce output where they have spent tens of billions of dollars to expand capacity.
Kazakhstan’s energy minister stepped down last month after tough discussions on OPEC+ compliance.
CPC said the mooring closures followed an inspection by Russia’s transport watchdog, allowing the company to address “violations”.
CPC did not specify the exact nature of these violations nor say how long the closures were expected to last.
It said the inspection was prompted by an oil product spill following the sinking of a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait in December.
Chevron-led Tengizchevroil, which operates Kazakhstan’s giant Tengiz oilfield, did not reply to a request for immediate comment.
Kazakhstan’s energy ministry also did not reply to a request for immediate comment.
Separately, three industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday that Kazakhstan will have to start cutting its record high oil production within days due to reduced intake on the CPC pipeline.
Another source said that repair work at the CPC terminal would take more than a month.
A trader said he had not heard of any planned cuts to Kazakh production yet.
“One jetty is still loading, there is capacity for storage of five days at port. If the situation is not resolved in five days, then production cuts will be needed,” he said.
Citing technical outages, Russia has closed the CPC moorings in the past. Operations were suspended in 2022 and 2023 due to damage and storms, interrupting CPC exports and hitting Kazakhstan’s output.
In February, a Ukrainian drone attack struck a pumping station along the pipeline serving the terminal, according to CPC and Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft.
The pipeline had been set to export 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or approximately 6.5 million metric tons, in April, Reuters reported.
It exported more than 63 million metric tons (1.4 million bpd) in 2024.
CPC’s top shareholders are Transneft (24%) and Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas (19%) while U.S. majors Chevron and Exxon Mobil also hold stakes.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow, additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London; editing by Jason Neely)