Lukoil begins new Karachaganak crude route

July 10, 2006
The Seasong tanker, chartered by an undisclosed company, departed from Ukraine's Odessa terminal on the Black Sea loaded with 10,000 tonnes of Russian export blend crude from Karachaganak field in Northwest Kazakhstan.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 10 -- The Seasong tanker, chartered by an undisclosed company, departed from Ukraine's Odessa terminal on the Black Sea loaded with 10,000 tonnes of Russian export blend crude from Karachaganak field in Northwest Kazakhstan.

This new export route allows for crude to be pumped via the Karachaganak Bolshoy Chagan pipeline to Samara. From Samara, the crude can be transported either to Black Sea or Baltic ports or directly to Central Europe via the Druzhba pipeline, subject to Transneft's export schedule.

The initial route allowed for Karachaganak crude to depart from the South Ozereyka terminal near Novorossiysk via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) export system (OGJ Online, July 13, 2004).

The new route resulted from an extended joint effort by Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), the international operating consortium in which LUKOIL has a 15% interest, and KazTransOil (Kazakhstan). It complements the existing Karachaganak crude shipping system through the CPC system to the Orenburg Gas Plant.

The KPO and KazTransOil long-term agreement calls for shipping volumes, currently at 20,000 tonnes/month, to be increased gradually.