ASTANA – Kazakhstan plans to supply 50,000 metric tons of crude to China directly from the vast Kashagan field in December for the first time after a Ukrainian drone damaged the Black Sea terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

The CPC, which accounts for 1% of global crude supply and includes Russian, Kazakh and U.S. shareholders, has had to reduce exports because a key part of its loading infrastructure – a single-point mooring (SPM) – was damaged in the attack, two sources told Reuters on Dec. 8.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry on Nov. 30 expressed its protest over yet another deliberate attack on the critical infrastructure of the international CPC in the waters of the Port of Novorossiysk, which occurred on Nov. 29.