Kazakhstan is considering shipping a significant part of its oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in the medium term, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said on Monday.
Such a move would make Astana less dependent on Russia which currently tranships the lion's share of Kazakh exports.
Satkaliyev said the Central Asian nation could increase BTC shipments to as much as 20 million metric tons a year from the current 1.5 million tons as it increases crude output, but provided no exact time frame.
"There is interest in developing and gradually increasing the volume of Kazakh oil shipments in this direction both on our side and from the Azerbaijani partners," he told parliament.
Kazakhstan will produce 88.4 million metric tons of oil this year, Satkaliyev said, a reduction from an original plan to produce more than 90 million tons, which reflects maintenance breaks at large oilfields and Kazakhstan's OPEC+ commitments.
Kazakhstan will export 68.8 million tons of oil this year, he said, including 55.4 million tons via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, 8.6 million tons via the Atyrau-Samara Pipeline, 3.6 million tons via the Caspian Sea and 1.1 million tons via a pipeline to China.
Starting from 2026, Kazakhstan expects to produce more than 100 million tons of oil per year.
