Kazakhstan plans to sell some of its crude via Azerbaijan’s largest oil pipeline, bypassing Russia, Reuters reported, citing three sources familiar with the talks.
Thus, Kazakhstan seeks to diversify its oil export routes. For 20 years, deliveries of raw materials from Kazakhstan were carried out via the pipes of the CPC (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) to Novorossiysk. However, in July the city court suspended CPC activities for 30 days due to violations of the oil spill response plan, after which Kazakhstan began searching for alternative routes, the report said.
According to the agency’s sources, the national company Kazmunaigas is already conducting preliminary negotiations with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) on oil supplies. The Kazakh side plans to sell 1.5 million tons of fuel per year via the Azerbaijani oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan.
Thus, Kazakhstan will be able to sell just over 30,000 barrels per day – a negligible amount compared to the usual 1.3-1.4 million barrels per day that pass through the CPC pipeline, the agency writes.
The final contract could be signed at the end of August, with deliveries to begin this fall.
Another 3.5 million tons of Kazakh oil per year can be transported from 2023 through another Azerbaijani pipeline to the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa.
Combined with Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan flows, the total volume of Kazakh oil will be just over 100,000 barrels per day, or 8% of exports via the CPC pipeline from Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
Tengizchevroil, a joint venture between Chevron and KazMunayGas, is also negotiating new supply routes, the agency said. In this case, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is considered as a possible option, but, according to the source, it may take up to six months to organize oil exports through it.
Tengizchevroil had already diverted a small amount of oil by rail to the Georgian port of Batumi in April, when the CPC terminal was partially disabled due to a hurricane. Now, according to Reuters, the company is ordering more rail transport, which may increase in September or October.
Asiaplustj.info,
August 12, 2022