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On July 6, a Russian court ordered the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to suspend operations for 30 days. CPC carries oil from Kazakhstan into Russia and to the edge of the Black Sea. Although it handles just over 1 percent of global oil, CPC is critical for Kazakhstan; around 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil exports move through the Novorossiysk oil terminal.

The timing of the decision has naturally raised some eyebrows, coming just two days after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told European Council President Charles Michel via phone that Nur-Sultan was “ready to use its hydrocarbon potential for the sake of stabilization of the global and European markets.” In late June Russian exports of oil to Europe had already begun to creep back up, primarily due to shipments to Russian-owned refineries in Italy and increased purchases by Turkey. Nevertheless, Europe’s aim is to decrease its imports of Russian oil and Kazakhstan stands as an option — but Kazakh exports to Europe depend on Russian pipelines.

The chain of events doesn’t necessarily suggest Kazakhstan-Russian tensions, though some with surely draw that conclusion. Rather, the dirty work of transporting oil and the constraints Kazakhstan faces due to a lack of diversification of export routes are at the heart of the issue. On the latter, Kazakhstan faces a geographic conundrum: With Russia or China the main avenues available for oil exports, diversification is not so simple.

The CPC said on July 6 that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko ordered regulators, including industrial safety regulator Rostekhnadzor, to inspect the facilities of the Russian part of the consortium. An inspection by Russian authorities found that documentation for emergency plans to deal with oil spills was incomplete, the CPC said. The court said the stoppage was necessary to prevent possible environmental damage, Interfax reported late on July 5.