Kazakhstan has restarted oil shipments via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline after a one-month suspension, restoring a key westward export route that bypasses Russia.
State firm KazMunayGas confirmed that 8,800 tonnes of crude from the Kashagan subject had been loaded on the port of Aktau on September 13, certain for Azerbaijan. A second cargo is scheduled for September 20, in response to native outlet Kapital.kz. The crude will journey by tanker throughout the Caspian Sea to Baku earlier than coming into the BTC system for supply to Turkey’s Ceyhan terminal on the Mediterranean.
Azerbaijan’s statistics present BTC volumes down 19.4% year-on-year in January-August, whereas third-party crude from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan accounted for about 15.7% of throughput.
Exports via BTC had been halted in August as a result of contamination issues, with Kazakhstan compelled to divert volumes. The interruption underscored the fragility of transit alternate options as Astana seeks to cut back reliance on Russia’s Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which nonetheless handles the majority of Kazakh crude exports. Information service Orda.kz famous that shipments through BTC had totaled 0.9 million tonnes within the first eight months of 2025.
Native media Sputnik Kazakhstan and Lada.kz confirmed the restart, citing KazMunayGas because the supply, noting that contamination points have been resolved, clearing the way in which for renewed flows.
Kazakhstan has been steadily rising shipments via BTC since an settlement between KazMunayGas and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR was signed in 2022, a part of a diversification technique accelerated by Russia’s warfare in Ukraine. Though the volumes are nonetheless modest in contrast with CPC’s 1.3 million barrels per day capability, every resumption reinforces Astana’s intent to safe various corridors to world markets. CPC flows stay weak to weather-related stoppages and periodic Russian authorized actions, and every resumed BTC cargo reassures refiners within the Mediterranean market that Astana is severe about various corridors. On the identical time, Kazakhstan has been in talks with Trans-Caspian companions about boosting rail and tanker capability throughout the Caspian, which might additional improve non-Russian export routes by 2026.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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