Current volumes of Kazakh oil transited via BTC not affecting quality of Azeri Light oil - BP-Azerbaijan
BAKU. March 6 (Interfax) - Mixing Kazakh oil with Azeri Light is not affecting the quality of the mixture transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, though growth in supplies from Kazakhstan could require finding alternative routes, Tamam Bayatly, head of the BP-Azerbaijan press service, told reporters.
"Strict requirements have been in place for the oil entering the pipeline since the commissioning of the BTC oil pipeline. Only crude that meets the established specifications may be transported, as the price of the mixture is formed based on the features of Azeri Light," Bayatly said.
Bayatly said that the BTC also transports condensate from Shah Deniz, oil from other fields in Azerbaijan, as well as Turkmen and Kazakh oil, in addition to oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field.
"Third-party crude is accepted at the BTC only in volumes that do not affect the quality of Azeri Light," she said.
Bayatly said that it would probably be necessary to use alternative routes going forward if there is a significant increase in supplies from Kazakhstan. "The Kazakh side would have to resolve the matter with Azerbaijan's government and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR)," she said.
The BTC is 1,768 km in length with throughput capacity of over 50 million tonnes of oil per year.
As reported, the BTC pipeline pumped nearly 29.471 million tonnes of oil in 2024, down 2.4% year-on-year, with Azerbaijani oil accounting for 82% of the volume pumped, or nearly 24.173 million tonnes, down 3.1%. The share of transited oil, particularly from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, was 18%, or about 5.298 million tonnes, up 1.1%.
Astana began deliveries via the BTC in 2023 in order to diversify oil export routes. SOCAR and KazMunayGas signed an agreement to transport 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh oil per year via the pipeline. The volume of deliveries is planned to increase to 2.2 million tonnes per year according to the document. Exports began in April 2023.
KazMunayGas data indicate that about 1.1 million tonnes of Kazakh oil were shipped from the port of Aktau in the direction of Azerbaijan for subsequent export via the BTC in 2023, 1.4 million tonnes of oil in 2024, and it is planned to ship 1.7 million tonnes in 2025.
