Kazakhstan mulls ramping up oil shipments via BTC pipeline 13-fold to 20 mln tpy

ASTANA. Nov 25 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan is considering increasing annual oil shipments through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to 20 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes, Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev said.

"For 2024, there are plans to supply 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh oil through the BTC. The prospect of increasing supplies along this route to 20 million tonnes per year is being studied," Satkaliyev said during the government hour in the lower house of parliament on Monday. This would be more than a 13-fold increase.

The minister said there is interest in increasing Kazakh oil shipments through the BTC "both on our part and on the part of our Azerbaijani partners."

Kazakhstan began shipping oil through the BTC pipeline in April 2023 in order to diversify its crude exports. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and KazMunayGas signed a contract to transport 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh oil per year through the pipeline.