The ALATAU tanker began shipping the first batch of 80,000 tons of oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan to Constanta in Romania, QazMonitor reports citing the press service of KazMunayGaz (KMG).
The cargo will be shipped through the Romanian port of Constanta to one of KMG's assets in the country, the Petromidia Refinery, which is one of the largest oil refineries in Eastern Europe.
Magzum Mirzagaliyev, chair of the board of KazMunayGas, said that the newly established route was a direct result of an agreement made with the Azerbaijani national company SOCAR on the terms of transportation through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline. He also emphasized the promising prospects for further development of cooperation with the Azerbaijani side.
Earlier last year, KazMunayGaz and SOCAR signed a five-year agreement to transport 1.5 million tons of oil annually along the Aktau–Baku–Ceyhan route. The transshipments are carried out by the Kazakh and Azerbaijani fleets on a parity basis.
The transportation along the route commenced in March and, as of April 20, 86,000 tons had already been transported from the Aktau port.