ALMATY, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) infrastructure have resulted in the loss of 480,000 tonnes of oil output for Kazakhstan, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported Thursday, citing Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov.
Akkenzhenov said the country still expects to meet its 2025 production target of 96.2 million tonnes of oil.
He added that the production plan for 2026 has not yet been finalized, but output is expected to be lower than that in 2025 due to three scheduled maintenance shutdowns at major oil fields.
The CPC marine infrastructure facilities near the Russian port of Novorossiysk were attacked by unmanned surface vessels on Nov. 29, and a single-point mooring unit was disabled.
Kazakhstan later expressed its protest against the attack on the consortium's critical infrastructure.
According to Akkenzhenov, the damage to the infrastructure is significant, and the consortium is working to restore its buoyancy.
The CPC's 1,511-km pipeline connects oil fields in western Kazakhstan and Russian offshore fields in the Caspian Sea to a marine terminal in Novorossiysk, serving as the main export route for Kazakh oil. ■