News 2023
04.09.2023Caspian Integrated Maritime Solutions
Caspian Integrated Maritime Solutions (CIMS), a joint venture between KazMunayGas (KMG) and Abu Dhabi Ports Group (UAE), plans to increase its tanker fleet to 10 vessels, KMG Chairman of the Board Magzum Mirzagaliyev said.
"We plan to increase the number of tankers carrying oil to seven by the end of this year. This is a joint venture (CIMS italics). In the future there are plans to increase this number to 10," he told reporters.
At the same time, he recalled that the fastest and relatively inexpensive option for exporting Kazakh oil remains the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), through which about 80% of all oil exports are sent from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea coast of Russia (Novorossiysk) to foreign buyers. In 2022, the CPC pumped 58.7 million tonnes of oil, including 52.2 million tonnes of crude from Kazakhstan. In 2023, the consortium said it was ready to pump increased volumes of fuel
CIMS was registered at the Astana International Financial Centre earlier this year. In July, the company purchased two new tankers Taraz and Liwa with deadweight of 8,000 tonnes each. They will help in transporting Kazakh oil across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan. There the oil is to be pumped into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. KMG plans to pump 1.5 million tonnes of oil a year through this corridor. The route through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkiye bypasses Russia, where Kazakhstan has repeatedly had problems with pumping and shipping oil through the main export route, the CPC.
The joint tanker pool of Kazmortransflot (KMTF, a subsidiary of KMG) and ADP consists of four vessels. Two of them are to carry Tengiz oil to consumers from Russia's Novorossiysk, where it is delivered via the CPC from the Atyrau region. The corresponding contract was signed this year with Chevron.
Three more ADP tankers are expected to be added to the pool by the end of this year two Aframax vessels (medium tonnage vessels with a deadweight of 80-120,000 tonnes) with a deadweight of 115,000 tonnes and one Suezmax (tankers capable of passing through the Suez Canal) with a deadweight of 130,000 tonnes.
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