Kazakhstan Ships First Kashagan Oil via BTC Pipeline, Expanding Export Routes

The first shipment of oil from the Kashagan field has been dispatched to Baku, Azerbaijan, marking a significant step in Kazakhstan’s efforts to diversify its oil export routes and reduce reliance on Russia.

The Kazakh tanker Taraz, loaded with oil from the Kashagan deposit, departed Aktau Port en route to Baku. From there, the oil will be transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea, according to a statement from KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company.

This move follows President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s directive to explore alternative export options for the country’s hydrocarbons. It is expected to strengthen the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and bolster Kazakhstan’s role in regional energy markets.

The shipment is part of a 2022 agreement between KMG and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR to facilitate Kazakh oil transit. Last year, the two companies signed a pact to gradually increase oil volumes transported through the BTC pipeline, with a goal of scaling up deliveries to 2.2 million tons annually.

In late 2024, Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry reported that it planned to increase oil shipments via the BTC pipeline to 20 million tons per year – a significant rise from the current 1.5 million tons. However, SOCAR has raised concerns about its capacity to handle such volumes.

The Kashagan oil field, located in the northern Caspian Sea near Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region, is one of the largest oil discoveries of the past four decades.

Discovered in 2000, it is the largest oil and gas field in the Kazakh section of the Caspian Sea, with an estimated 9 to 13 billion barrels of recoverable oil, according to the field operator. Situated 80 kilometers southwest of Atyrau, the field covers an area of 3,375 square kilometers, with the reservoir lying approximately 4,200 meters beneath the shallow northern Caspian waters.

To accommodate Kazakh oil, SOCAR upgraded its collector pipeline network at the Sangachal Terminal in 2022, ensuring the smooth integration of Kashagan oil into the BTC pipeline.

The BTC pipeline, a strategic corridor linking the Caspian to the Mediterranean, already transports oil from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan’s Tengiz field.

For the past two decades, Kazakh crude oil was primarily transported through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. However, after a Russian court threatened to shut down the CPC pipeline in July 2022, the Kazakh government and major foreign producers began seeking alternative routes.

In addition to the BTC pipeline, Kazakhstan is also considering the Baku-Supsa pipeline. This 833-kilometer route connects Baku to Georgia’s Black Sea coast and has a capacity of up to five million tons of oil per year.