The Week in Kazakhstan: Power Surge

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium was repeatedly forced to halt operations this week at its Black Sea terminal due to safety fears and a tanker shortage, Reuters reported on August 5, despite statements on August 4 by Kazakhstan’s ministry of energy that the situation “was under control.” Since mid-July, Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian port of Novorossiysk and oil tankers have significantly disrupted operations at the CPC’s Marine Terminal, causing its month-to-month oil production to fall by 14% in July, sources told Reuters. [Read more here.] Bloomberg reported on August 6 that US energy giant ExxonMobil had informed Kazakhstan that a prospective $80 billion joint investment to expand the country’s Kashagan oil field would be contingent on the resolution of a protracted $160 billion dispute between Kazakhstan’s government and a consortium of international energy companies operating at Kashagan.In February, Shell’s CEO said that the company would pause its investment plans in Kazakhstan due to ongoing arbitration with the government.