NUR-SULTAN

KazTransOil JSC said it had carried out work to connect the newly built sections of the Russia-bound Uzen-Atyrau-Samara main oil pipeline after reconstruction.

It said that the pipeline was shut down for 72 hours in order to connect the replaced sections of the pipeline with a total length of 14 kilometres.

“All technical work was completed on time, in compliance with the requirements of industrial safety and labor protection,” the company said.

It said that the replacement of two sections of the Uzen-Atyrau-Samara main oil pipeline was made in accordance with KazTransOil’s business plan for 2020-2024 and was aimed “at ensuring reliable and trouble-free transportation of oil.”

The Atyrau-Samara oil pipeline is the second-largest export route of oil from Kazakhstan to the world market. Oil is supplied through the Atyrau-Samara pipeline and further through Russia’s Transneft system to the Baltic terminal of Ust-Luga and the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

In 2020, Kazakhstan exported 14.4 million tonnes of oil via the Atyrau-Samara oil pipeline.

KazTransOil is the country’s national oil transporter, and accounts for 53 percent of all oil transported in Kazakhstan. The company operates more than 8,000 kilometres of oil pipelines on the ground and 3,140 kilometres of water pipelines. Its shares are listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.

Fitch Ratings affirmed KazTransOil’s long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB-‘ with a “stable” outlook in November 2020.

The agency said that the affirmation reflected its expectations that KazTransOil would maintain a strong operational and financial profile.

“We continue to assess the linkage between KTO and its parent JSC National Company KazMunayGas (NC KMG; BBB-/Stable) as strong, leading to KTO’s rating being constrained by that of NC KMG under our Parent and Subsidiary Linkage (PSL) Rating Criteria,” Fitch said.

“We assess KTO’s Standalone Credit Profile (SCP) at ‘bbb’, reflecting a solid business profile as a national operator of oil pipelines in Kazakhstan, fairly stable cash flow generation despite a less predictable regulatory framework than European peers’ and a strong financial profile,” it said.