MOSCOW: Russian and Kazakh oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) declined by 3.5 percent in March from the previous month, CPC said on Tuesday, without citing a reason for the drop.
The pipeline group shipped an average of 76,677 tonnes per day (601,914 barrels) last month, down from 79,448 tonnes (623,667 barrels) in February and from 92,450 tonnes a day in March 2011.
Transneft, Russia's state-owned pipeline monopoly, owns 31 percent of CPC. The Kazakh state, US oil major Chevron and Russia's LUKOIL also have stakes.
The group exports CPC Blend from a terminal near the Russian port of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea. Russian companies such as Rosneft, Surgutneftegaz and TNK-BP also ship crude via CPC.
CPC connects Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea oil deposits with Novorossiisk. Although the CPC pipeline traverses Russia and was developed in conjunction with the Russian government, it was the first to give the Caspian Sea region and Kazakhstan a viable alternative to the Russia-dominated northern export routes.