Kazakhstan assesses losses after Caspian pipeline attack

Kazakhstan's Ministry of National Economy has evaluated the economic impact of recent attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) infrastructure.

Earlier reports indicated that on November 29, the offshore loading facility VPU-2 at the CPC terminal in the Novorossiysk seaport sustained significant damage and was taken out of service until repairs are completed, Caliber.Az reports per Kazakh media.

Loading operations at the terminal were immediately halted.

“Kazakhstan redirected oil export volumes to alternative routes to maintain production rates at the country’s major fields,” the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan said, adding that CPC accounts for 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports.

First Deputy Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin noted that repairs at VPU-2 are currently underway.

“By the end of the year, as far as I know, we are meeting our forecast [for oil exports],” he told journalists, adding that there will be no significant budget losses.

It was also reported that CPC plans to expedite repairs of VPU-3, which had been undergoing scheduled maintenance since mid-November. Initially, the work was expected to take two to three months, but the terminal’s loading facility is now expected to resume operations within the next seven days.

Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is a 1,510-kilometre oil pipeline and export system carrying crude from major Kazakh fields (like Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak) to a marine terminal at Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, making it the main export corridor for roughly 80 % of Kazakhstan’s oil.

Before the latest incident, the system had already endured a serious disruption: on February 17, 2025, its main pumping station, Kropotkinskaya Pump Station, was hit by a drone strike involving multiple UAVs, damaging critical equipment and forcing operation through a temporary bypass.

By Jeyhun Aghazada