Kazakhstan plans to increase oil transit bypassing Russia by 13 times

Kazakhstan is planning to increase the annual volume of oil supplies via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline from 1.5 million tonnes to 20 million tonnes.

Source: Kursiv, a Kazakh news outlet, with reference to Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almasadam Sätqaliev 

Details: It was reported that the volume of supplies via the pipeline could increase by more than 13 times.

Quote from Sätqaliev: "There is an interest in the development and gradual increase in the volume of Kazakh oil supplies, both on our part and on the part of our Azerbaijani partners."

More details: He did not name any specific timeframe.

According to Reuters, the increase in oil transit through the BTC pipeline will allow Kazakhstan to cut more than 80% of the supply that currently goes through Russia.

Kazakhstan sends crude oil by tanker across the Caspian Sea for export via the BTC pipeline, which crosses Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye.

Sätqaliev said that Kazakhstan would export 68.8 million tonnes of oil this year, including 55.4 million tonnes via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

Kazakhstan started supplying oil via the BTC last year to diversify its oil export routes. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and KazMunayGas, a Kazakhstani company, signed an agreement to transport 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh oil per year via this pipeline. Exports began in April 2023.

Background: Russian companies have faced a sharp increase in the time taken to make payments in Kazakh banks: in November, money transfers took an average of 24% longer than in July, and in some cases, it took two months to process the money.  

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