Kazakhstan reduces oil supplies to Germany

KazTransOil (KTO), an oil pipeline operator and subsidiary of KazMunayGas, plans to reduce its oil supplies to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline by 11% in October, bringing the total to 133,000 tons compared to September. Meanwhile, the company is expected to increase its supplies through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline by 12%, reaching 160,000 tons, according to an official statement provided to Reuters Russia. 

Market participants attribute the planned reduction in oil supplies to the ongoing scheduled repair at the Karachaganak field. Meanwhile, the increase in BTC pipeline supplies is likely linked to the completion of maintenance at the Tengiz field and the subsequent rise in production. 

Over the first nine months of this year, Kazakhstan’s pipeline operator delivered 1.08 million tons of oil to Germany, marking an 83% increase compared to the same period last year. Although the country originally planned to export 1.2 million tons to Germany in 2024, the year’s total will surpass that target with the inclusion of October’s expected volumes. 

In March, Almassadam Satkaliyev, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy, mentioned the possibility of increasing oil supplies to as much as two million tons. He noted that Germany had expressed interest in raising monthly supply volumes to 200,000 tons. In September, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated that Kazakhstan is ready to meet this inquiry, though a final decision hasn’t been made yet.

Kazakhstan resumed oil exports via the northern route of the Druzhba pipeline in February 2023, following an agreement with Russia’s Tatneft. This arrangement was prompted by sanctions and the ban on oil supplies from Russian Urals. Kazakhstan delivers KEBCO oil through the Druzhba pipeline, which is comparable in quality to Urals oil. The oil exported to Germany originates from the Karachaganak field.  

From January through September, oil exports via the BTC pipeline rose by 10% year-on-year, reaching 1 million tons compared to 0.9 million tons over the same period last year. Additionally, the transit of Russian oil through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan increased by 2.5 times, totaling 199,000 tons.

In March, Kazakhstan reached an agreement with Azerbaijan to gradually boost its oil exports through the BTC pipeline from 1.5 million to 2.2 million tons annually. The oil transported via the BTC primarily comes from the Tengiz field, where production increased by a third in September, reaching 2.5 million tons after renovations were completed.