The US administration has reportedly urged Ukraine to stop its attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) infrastructure. This appeal, made on Tuesday, July 21, was reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a White House spokesman. The CPC terminal is crucial for transporting oil primarily from Kazakhstan, with some minor volumes of Russian oil, and about two percent of the world's oil is pumped through this pipeline.
American corporations Chevron and ExxonMobil are shareholders in the consortium. This intervention by Washington is linked to recent attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea. Kazakhstan has condemned these attacks on its oil export infrastructure, with its Foreign Ministry calling on partner countries to condemn such actions and stating it reserves the right to seek compensation for damages.
Just days before the US appeal, Ukrainian Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Viktor Maiko, had claimed that attacks on Kazakh tankers were Russian provocations that Kiev was not involved in. The CPC is the largest route for oil transportation from the Caspian region to global markets and is the primary route for Kazakhstan, accounting for over 80% of the country's exports. Chevron has emphasized the importance of the CPC for the energy security of multiple nations.
KazMunayGas and Chevron recently discussed future development plans for the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan, focusing on sustainable operations and production safety. They also explored options for supplying Kazakh oil to world markets via the CPC and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route as an additional export channel, reaffirming their commitment to strengthening their mutually beneficial partnership.
While the specific WSJ article outlining Chevron's efforts to keep its Kazakh assets out of the conflict was not directly found or its content extracted from the provided search results, the broader context from EADaily and Sputnik Kazakhstan indicates that Chevron is a significant stakeholder in the CPC and that the US government is actively working to protect this vital energy infrastructure from the conflict's impact, aligning with Chevron's interests in the region.
