Russia beefs up its oil exports to China via Kazakhstan

Over the period from January to March 2024, KazTransOil (a subsidiary of KazMunayGas) shipped 2.507 million tons of Russian oil to China compared to 2.396 million tons over the same period last year (+4.6%), the company told Kursiv.

«In the first quarter of 2024, KazTransOil shipped 2.507 million tons of Russian oil to the People’s Republic of China via the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline. In Q1 of 2023, the company shipped 2.396 million tons of Russian oil to the PRC via the same pipeline,» the company said in a statement it sent to Kursiv.media.

In January 2024, the transit of Russian oil to China reached 855,600 tons, 816,200 tons in February and 835,600 tons in March. At the same time, Kazakhstani oil companies exported 282,000 tons of oil in Q1 (94,400 tons in January, 89,700 tons in February and 97,900 tons in March) to China via the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline.

It is worth noting that before the transit of Russian oil to China through Kazakhstan’s territory started, Kazakhstan exported much more oil to China than it is exporting today. In 2013, for instance, Kazakhstan exported 11.2 million tons of oil worth $8.7 billion to China, according to customs data. At the time, China was the second-biggest importer of Kazakhstani oil after Italy, which imported 19.7 million tons of oil worth $16.2 billion from Kazakhstan in 2013. However, after Russia started exporting its oil to China via Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan’s oil exports to China sharply dropped. For instance, in 2023, Kazakhstan exported just 5.7 million tons of oil worth $3.8 billion to China compared to 24.2 million tons worth $14.5 billion it shipped to Italy over the same year.

In 2023, Russian oil transit to China through Kazakhstan reached 9.989 million tons, while more generally, KazTransOil facilitated the export of 91 million tons of Russian oil to China from 2014 to 2023.

The pipeline company has been shipping Russian oil to China since 2014 as the countries agreed to cooperate in this sphere on December 24, 2013. In 2022, KazTransOil expanded its contract with Rosneft to transport Russian oil to China until December 31, 2033. In March, Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan Almasadam Satkaliyev said that Kazakhstan is expected to earn $1.7 billion by shipping Russian oil to China from 2024 to 2033.