Chevron CEO Mike Wirth says the Black Sea marine oil terminal that had halted operations following nearby Ukrainian drone strikes is loading ocean-faring tankers with crude again.
That's welcome news for global oil supplies. Oil prices had shot up in mid-July partly in response to Ukrainian drone attacks that hit four tankers, including one chartered by Chevron, near the key oil export hub, which feeds 2% of the world's daily oil supplies. Chevron owns 15% of the pipeline connected to the terminal and 50% of a joint venture behind a giant Kazakh oil field that feeds the pipeline.
"The pipeline is flowing. We've been loading ships this week," Wirth said in a conference call Friday after reporting a record quarterly profit. "We work with governments in the region, the U.S. government, the Kazakh government, obviously other governments, to be sure that pipeline stays flowing."
As of Friday, two loading buoys at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium marine terminal are operational, he said. Last week, Wirth had spoken with Trump administration officials about how to keep Chevron's massive operations in Kazakhstan from becoming collateral damage in the Ukraine-Russia war.
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