BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 3. The possibility of redirecting oil volumes from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to KazTransOil's main pipeline system is being considered, the company's press service told Trend.
"The information about the technical capabilities of KazTransOil's main oil pipeline system for such redirection has been submitted to the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Specific volumes and directions of oil supplies, in the case of redirection from the CPC, will be determined based on transportation schedules approved by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan," the company stated.
On November 29, at 06:06 Astana time, the marine infrastructure facilities of CPC near the port of Novorossiysk were attacked by unmanned watercraft. As a result of the attack, the offshore mooring facility VPU-2 was severely damaged and is out of operation until full repair and restoration work is completed.
CPC transports oil from three major Kazakhstani fields: Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak. The throughput volume in 2024 is expected to be around 63 million tons of oil.
One of the potential routes for redirecting oil from the CPC is the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. In 2022, KazMunayGas (KMG) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) signed a framework agreement for the transit of Kazakh oil. In March 2023, a test shipment of 7,000 tons of oil from the Kashagan field was sent through Azerbaijan.
In March 2024, KMG and SOCAR signed a new agreement that outlines a phased increase in oil transit volumes through Azerbaijan. According to the agreement, annual shipments are planned to rise to 2.2 million tons.
In 2023, around 1.1 million tons of Kazakh oil were sent from the port of Aktau to Azerbaijan for further export via the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan route. In 2024, this volume increased to 1.4 million tons.
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