Kazakhstan will start exporting oil through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline as part of a special roadmap to diversify its oil exports, QazMonitor reports citing News.am.
According to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, the oil will be sent from the Aktau port to Baku and from there through the BTC pipeline that connects Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkiye.
About 1.5 million tons of oil is expected to be loaded in this direction starting from January 1, 2023, says the prime minister. There are plans to increase oil shipment to 6-6.5 million tons in the future.
Smailov also listed a few other alternative transport routes for Kazakh oil. One is from Baku port via Baku–Supsa and Baku–Batumi oil pipelines. Another is via railroad from Atyrau to Batumi and Uzbekistan. There is also the Chinese route.
These are all being considered in the plan to increase and expand export potential.
Tengizchevroil doubled the number of tank cars and has already started pilot shipments by rail towards Batumi and Uzbekistan.