Kazakh oil transportation via BTC pipeline rose 47.5% to 1.342 mln tonnes in 11M

ASTANA. Dec 6 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's KazTransOil shipped 1.342 million tonnes of oil through the Aktau seaport in the direction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) in January-November 2024, the company said in a press release.

This is compared with 910,000 tonnes of oil exported via this route in the same period of 2023, so this year the volume of oil transportation rose by 47.47%.

"In December 2024, the shipment of Kazakh oil for further transportation via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline will be in accordance with the requests from the shippers following the oil transportation schedule approved by Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry. According to the schedule, 122,000 tonnes of oil is to be transshipped through the Aktau seaport in December 2024," the company said.

Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev said in late November that Kazakhstan was evaluating the potential to expand its oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline from 1.5 million tonnes to 20 million tonnes per year.

Kazakhstan began utilizing the BTC pipeline in 2023 as part of its strategy to diversify oil export routes. KazMunayGas and Azerbaijan's SOCAR signed a contract for the annual transportation of 1.5 million tonnes, with exports officially commencing in April 2023. The same volume is projected for 2024.