Russia-Ukraine War leads Kazakhstan to new routes in oil export
Beside the Russia-Ukraine War, the disruptions in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) activities, which transport Kazakh oil to global markets through Russia, accelerate Kazakhstan's search for an alternative route. The experts predict that Kazakhstan's start of oil shipments through Azerbaijan will be an important step in this context.
About 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil exports, which is among the major oil producers in the global markets, are made through the CPC pipeline.
The CPC line, which carries approximately 53 million tons of oil extracted from Kazakhstan’s oil fields to Novorossiysk Port on Russia’s Black Sea coast in 2021, has been providing Kazakh oil access to the global market for nearly 20 years.
However, the sanctions on Russia’s oil exports due to the Russia-Ukraine War, as well as the interruption of activities on the CPC line for various reasons 4 times last year, led Kazakhstan to new routes and agreements on the export route.
Kazakhstan Prime Minister Alihan Ismailov stated that they prepared a special roadmap to diversify oil exports on November 10, 2022, and announced that 1.5 million tons of oil shipments will begin as of January 1, through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.
Noting that they are working to increase the shipment to 6 to 6.5 million tons, İsmailov stated that Kazakh oil can also be shipped via the Baku-Supsa and Baku-Batumi pipelines.
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev also stated that they plan to increase the oil transportation volume on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (mid corridor) where the BTC line is located, to 20 million tons per year.
