KazMunayGas observes significant growth in oil transit, thanks to Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company, transported 59.3 million tons of oil from January through September 2023, Trend.az reports.
According to the company, oil transportation through primary pipelines increased by 6.6 percent, reaching 51.3 million tons. This growth is primarily due to the increased transportation of Kashagan oil through the KazTransOil system towards Samara and into the CPC system, along with oil transportation to the port of Aktau.
Maritime oil transportation saw a total volume increase of 16.1 percent to 8 million tons, mainly driven by expanded operations in the Mediterranean Sea, utilizing the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline as an alternative route for exporting Kazakh oil, the KMG noted. Moreover, there was an uptick in transported oil volume through the Black Sea, moving from the KTK marine terminal at the Port of Novorossiysk (Russia) to the Port of Midia (Romania).
As part of advancing the Trans-Caspian route, new "Taraz" and "Liwa" oil tankers, each with a deadweight of 8,000 tons, have been acquired for the transportation of Kazakh oil across the Caspian Sea. These tankers are owned by the Caspian Integrated Maritime Solutions joint venture with shareholders including the National Maritime Shipping Company "Kazmortransflot" (a 100 percent subsidiary of KMG) and International Maritime Investments Ltd. (a 100 percent subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Ports Group) in the UAE.