By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Russia has ordered shut two of the three moorings of the main oil export terminal on the Black Sea handling Kazakhstan’s oil exports, which could seriously disrupt Kazakh crude shipments if the suspension lasts more than a few days.

Following snap safety inspections by Russia’s Federal Agency for Transport Supervision, prompted by the Kerch Strait oil spill in December 2024, Russia ordered on Monday that the SPM-1 and SPM-2 moorings of the terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) be shut immediately, CPC said in a statement.

The consortium operates the pipeline from the Caspian coast in northwest Kazakhstan to the Novorossiysk port on Russia’s Black Sea coast. The port handles most of Kazakhstan’s crude exports from giant oilfields in Kazakhstan operated by international oil firms, including U.S. supermajor Chevron.

Affiliates of Chevron and ExxonMobil are also minority shareholders in CPC, whose biggest shareholder is the Russian Federation with a 24% stake.

CPC complied with the order for a temporary ban of operations at the SPM-1 and SPM-2 moorings and took them out of service “until the identified deficiencies have been addressed.”

Until then, all transshipment operations at the CPC Marine Terminal will be delivered using the SPM-3 mooring commissioned in 2014, the consortium said.

The suspension of part of the export capacity could more than halve the crude oil exports of Kazakhstan if it drags on for more than a week, trading sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The potential disruption to Kazakhstan’s oil exports comes as the country part of the OPEC+ pact saw its crude production hit a record high in March despite continued pledges to start complying with its OPEC+ quota that it has been exceeding for years.

Kazakhstan appears to find it hard to convince Chevron and the other supermajors operating in the country to limit production now after years of investing billions of U.S. dollars in oilfield expansions.

Amid tensions with OPEC+ and the oil majors, Kazakhstan said last month that energy minister Almassadam Satkaliyev would step down from the role and lead a newly minted atomic energy agency.