Kazakhstan in March to start shipping Tengiz oil to Azerbaijan at 1.5 mln tonnes per year - KazMunayGas

ALMATY. March 15 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan intends to start shipping oil to Azerbaijan in March for transportation along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) route, Bulat Zakirov, deputy chairman of the executive board for transportation at KazMunayGas (KMG), said on Wednesday during a KMG online conference.

"We signed an agreement at the end of last year with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) on shipping 1.5 million tonnes of oil per year. We plan to ship Tengiz oil under the agreement. We plan to start shipping along this route this month," Zakirov said during the online conference.

He also said KMG was thinking of increasing deliveries to China.

Zakirov said the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system was still the main export route for Kazakh oil, providing the best export economy.

"The CPC pipeline is not subject to international sanctions, and KazMunayGas, together with other CPC shareholders, is working to ensure its reliable operation, despite the challenging geopolitical situation we are seeing today," Zakirov said.

He said 52.2 million tonnes of oil were transported through the CPC pipeline last year.

"Even though CPC remains our main route, we are looking at options to diversify supply routes and ensure flexibility," Zakirov said.

Oil exports from the port of Aktau to Baku with further transportation through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (BTC) were due to begin early February, according to Kazakhstan's KazTransOil. But the shipments could not begin due to a force majeure over the suspension of operations at the Ceyhan terminal. Tengizchevroil, which develops the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, said shipments had been disrupted due to the earthquake in Turkey. This was KazMunayGas oil produced by Tengizchevroil.