Kazakhstan is diversifying its oil export routes, planning to send 125,000 tons of oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in April, QazMonitor reports citing Kazinform.
Serik Zhumangarin, the deputy prime minister – minister of trade and integration, during a briefing shared plans for oil shipments through Azerbaijan this month.
"Last year KazMunayGas and SOCAR signed an agreement, and this year we plan to ship 1.5 million tons of oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The process has already started in March. The first two tankers [have already] shipped 20,000 tons, and in April we expect 125,000 tons,” said Zhumangarin.
According to him, Baku authorities also offer other routes to address transport bottlenecks between the two countries. This includes the Baku-Supsa pipeline that could connect Kazakhstan to the Georgian ports of Batumi and Poti. Right now the ministry reviewing the technical characteristics of the route.
"Yesterday we were quite confidently discussing the creation of a joint venture. It would be a single operator of this route, with a pass-through tariff, cheap transit opportunities, and the use of innovative technologies," added the trade minister.
