Kazakhstan’s exports via BTC pipeline rising

energy

Kazakhstan’s exports via BTC pipeline rising

By SRI ⋅ March 18, 2009 ⋅

(SRI) - The volume of Kazakh oil transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline has been steadily increasing since October last year when Kazakhstan began to use the BTC route.

According to the Azeri State Statistics Committee, the volume increased from 17,400 tons in October 2008 to 240,200 tons this February. In total, Kazakhstan transported 686,400 tons via the BTC pipeline.

Overall, the BTC pipeline exported approximately 2.7 million tons in February 2008 and 32.8 million tons in all of 2008, abc.az reported.

On November 14, 2008, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Kazakh national company KazMunaiGas (KMG) signed an agreement on key principles of the Kazakhstan Caspian Transportation System (KCTS), a project which would allow Kazakhstan’s producers to connect to the BTC pipeline via a shuttle system of sea tankers.

The agreement defines main conditions and principles of the joint realization of the project and creation of a joint venture between SOCAR and KMG, and stipulates issues of financing, tariff forming and conditions of access to the facilities. While still preliminary, it is the first practical move to create a system with defined conditions of supplies, tariffs and other matters, guiding the trans-Caspian oil transportation.

The KCTS would be capable of transporting up to 500,000 bpd in its initial stage, with further increases to as much as 1.2 or even 1.8 million bpd possible.