Azerbaijan is ready to increase the volume of transportation of Kazakh oil through its territory to world markets, the minutes of the 19th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation (held on April 7, 2023, in Baku). "In terms of energy cooperation, the Azerbaijani side is ready to transport even larger volumes of Kazakh oil. The parties also agreed to hold as soon as possible the third meeting of Working Groups on the transportation of Kazakh oil and petroleum products in transit through Azerbaijan, as well as the supply of Kazakh petroleum products and liquefied natural gas," the document says. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (BTC) is currently 40% loaded, Serik Zhumangarin, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan, said in an interview with journalists last Friday in Baku. "It still has about 20 million tons of possible containers for transshipment. And this is the volume that we are aiming at in principle within the framework of joint cooperation," he said. In order to diversify oil export routes, Kazakhstan has started deliveries via BTC. In particular, for 2023 there is an agreement on the transportation of 1.5 million tons of oil through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Transportation is conducted within the framework of the contract concluded between SOCAR and 'Kazmunaygas.' Deliveries of Tengiz oil via the BTC under this agreement began in March 2022. The volume of deliveries amounted to 20 thousand tons. In addition, in March, 'Kaztransoil' tested the transit of 7 thousand tons of oil from the Kashagan field through Azerbaijan via the BTC. The total volume of oil transportation via the BTC pipeline in 2022 amounted to 29 million 749.6 thousand tons, which is 12.6% higher than in 2021. At the same time, the pumping of transit oil through the BTC amounted to 5 million 103.9 thousand tons (an increase of 41.8% from 2021). Last year, transit oil of Turkmenistan and Russia was transported via the BTC (suspended from December 1, 2022).
Source: Turan News Agency