Kazakhstan eyes significant boost in oil exports bypassing Russia
Kazakhstan could sharply increase its crude oil exports out of Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, its energy minister said on Monday, in a move that would reduce the more than 80% share of flows it currently sends via Russia.
Exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline could rise to as much as 20 million metric tons a year from the current 1.5 million as the country increases its output, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said on Monday.
He did not provide an exact time frame.
“There is interest in developing and gradually increasing the volume of Kazakh oil shipments in this direction both on our side and from the Azerbaijani partners,” he told parliament.
Kazakhstan sends crude by tanker across the Caspian Sea for export via the BTC which crosses Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
Kazakhstan will export 68.8 million tons of oil this year, the minister said, including 55.4 million tons via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.
It will also send 8.6 million tons via the Atyrau-Samara Pipeline also via Russia, 3.6 million tons via the Caspian Sea and 1.1 million tons by pipeline to China.
OUTPUT BELOW ORIGINAL PLAN
Kazakhstan expects to produce 88.4 million metric tons of oil this year, Satkaliyev said separately, down from an original plan of more than 90 million tons reflecting maintenance at large oilfields and Kazakhstan’s OPEC+ output reduction commitments.
That translates into around 1.82 million barrels per day based on a ratio of 7.5 barrels per ton.
Kazakh exports account for more than 1% of the world’s supply.
Starting from 2026, it expects to produce more than 100 million tons of oil per year.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Tamara Vaal; writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)