Kazakhstan boosts oil exports to Europe bypassing Russia

KazTransOil, a subsidiary of the national oil company KazMunayGas, reported that in the second quarter this year, it exported 347,100 tons of oil through the Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan pipeline, which stretches across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, compared to 19,200 tons in the first quarter.

«In Q2 2023, KazTransOil exported 347,100 tons of oil from the Tengiz oil field through the seaport of Aktau and further the Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan pipeline. In Q1 2023, KazTransOil exported just 19,200 tons of the Tengiz oil via the same route,» the company said in a statement today.

As a result, transit of the Tengiz oil via the Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan pipeline increased by 17.1 times in the second quarter. In 2022, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered the cabinet to boost the oil export via the Trans-Caspian Corridor. KazMunayGas, the parent company for KazTransGas, and SOCAR, the national oil company in Azerbaijan, agreed to transport 1.5 million tons of oil from the Tengiz oil field to the Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan pipeline per year.

In addition, KazTransOil reported an increased transit of Russian oil to Uzbekistan through its infrastructure. In Q2 2023, the company delivered 37,900 tons of Russian oil to Uzbekistan compared to 10,700 tons of oil in the first quarter.

Russia started exporting oil to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan in 2017. At the time, the amount of oil exports was 67,900 tons per year and 36,000 tons in 2018. Over the period from 2019 to 2022, there were no oil supplies from Russia to Uzbekistan.