In February 2009, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) considerably increased oil shipments by 21.4% in comparison with the corresponding accounting month of 2008, the CPC press service announced. The CPC transports crude oil from Tengiz - one of Kazakhstan's biggest oilfields - to the Russian port of Novorossiysk. In February, according to the data made available by the Consortium, shipment of crude oil intended for export from the terminal Southern Ozereika-2 reached 2.71 million tons compared to 2.23 million tons during the corresponding accounting period of 2008. For first two months of the current year, the CPC has increased exports by 19.8%, having shipped 5.72 million tons compared to 4.78 million tons in January-February 2008. In 2008, the oil flow via the CPC decreased to 31.47 million tons in comparison with 32.61 million tons in 2007.
It should be noted that during the last week of February 2009, CPC halted shipments through a segment of the pipeline in Kazakhstan in order to address an oil leakage; however, shipments to Russia had not been affected thanks to the use of reservoirs. The flow of oil through the main pipeline from Kazakhstan to Russia restarted in March 1, 2009.