Kazakhstan aims to further increase the volume of oil it exports through the Baku-Tbilissi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, highlighting the continuous efforts of Astana to diversify its roads in the middle of the constrained geography of the Central Asian region.
After a meeting in Astana this week with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Azerbaijani Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister Kazakh of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu noted that the two parties implemented previous agreements to provide Kazakh energy resources to world markets via Azerbaijan.
“Last year, 1.4 million tonnes of oil were exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Cyhan pipeline. In the future, it is planned to increase the volume of Kazakhstani oil transit to 2.2 million tonnes per year, “he said.
In November 2022, Kazakhstan State and Gaz, Kazmunaygas (KMG) signed a five -year agreement with the oil and gas company belonging to the Azerbaijan State, in which 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh oil would be transferred via the Azerbaijan BTC Pipeline in Georgia and Turkiy.
At the time, the Kazakh Minister of Energy, Bolat Akchulakov, said that the country’s objectives to increase its alternative oil exports, with the Astana Times Reporting that Kazakhstan planned to “increase oil supplies by Azerbaijan to 6 to 6.5 million tonnes”.
The agreement came while Kazakhstan sought to operationalize additional routes following the large -scale invasion of Ukraine in Russia in February 2022. Writing in October 2022, Paolo Sorbello noted That oil producers in Kazakhstan have recognized the risks of war against pipelines crossing Russia as well as the opportunities presented by European customers looking for alternative suppliers.
In April 2023, Kazakh oil was shipped from Ceyhan, to Turkiye, on the other side of the Black Sea to the Petromidia refinery near the Romanian port of Romanian port Constanta (The port of MiAIA, one of the satellite ports of Constanta, is used to provide the refinery). Petromidia belongs to International kmgwhich acquired a participation of 75% in the original operating company, Rumpertrol, in 2007 and the 25% final in 2009. Petromidia is Romania only Coast of the Black Sea refinery.
Bloomberg reported in March 2023 on Kazakh struggle to export enough Brut oil via pipelines to respond to European requests, given a drop in production in February 2023 in the midst of unforeseen maintenance works at the Tengiz field. Reflected production volumes and flows: in October 2024 Maintenance work has reduced production levels in the field of Kashagan; In February 2025However, Kazakhstan oil production has reached a record, especially on the back of the exit from Tengiz.
There have also been more unique problems, such as the February 17 attack of Ukrainian drones On the Caspian Consortium Pipeline (CPC). The CPC transports oil from Kazakhstan to the Port of the Russian Black Sea of Novorossiysk; It manages around 80% of exports from Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh service of RFE / RL, Azattyq, in 2024, the CPC transported 63 million tonnes of oil – 53 million tonnes of Kazakhstan – most of which went to Europe and the United States.
An expansion of the volumes routed through the BTC pipeline will not be able to reduce the dependence of Kazakhstan with regard to the CPC, but is used to underline the necessity continues to widen the Astana options as far as possible. The large volume of Kazakhstan should redirect to eliminate its dependence on Russian territory You probably need a pipeline through the Caspian Sea.
In a August 2024 articleLuke Coffey, a main researcher at the Hudson Institute, argued that a “pipeline is the only economically viable way to move natural gas through the Caspian Sea”.
A decade ago, in 2016, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan discussed a transcaspian project, based on a decade of previous discussion. While the pipeline remains a dream, the motivations of such a project continue to accumulate.