The Caspian Consortium Pipeline (CPC), the main outlet for Kazakh Oil, has managed to stave off a temporary closure that would have put it out of business for a month.
An appeals court in Krasnodar, Russia, reversed on Monday an initial ruling by a lower Russian court earlier this month that had ordered the closure of CPC’s Novorossiysk terminal on environmental grounds.
“Having considered the materials, having listened to the arguments of the parties, the [Krasnodar] court of appeal changed the decision of the [Primorsk] district court, imposing an administrative fine of 200,000 rubles ($3,245) on JSC Caspian Pipeline Consortium,” the CPC said in a statement on its website.
The appeal court’s decision is said to have already entered into force.
CPC is subject to Russian law since its pipeline crosses Russian territory, bring 2m barrels of Kazakh crude every day to the Black Sea and then to international markets beyond.
Kazakh oil has not been subject to Western sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia holds a 31% share in CPC, while Kazakhstan owns 20.75%. Chevron and other oil companies are shareholders as well.
The original shutdown ruling had been ordered to eliminate environmental violations identified in an audit set in motion by Russia’s deputy prime minister Victoria Abramchenko in March.
Commentators had taken the shutdown order as reprisals for recent statements by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that his country would sell more oil and natural gas to Europe to replace sanctioned Russian exports.
CPC pledged on Monday to redress any deficiencies.
