Kazakhstan buys tankers to diversify oil export routes

Kazakhstan plans to buy tankers to ship its oil through the Caspian and Black seas, in the latest sign that the largest oil producing country in Central Asia is seeking to provide alternatives to its oil export pipeline passing through Russia.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of energy, Yerlan akinginov, said that a unit of the company “KazMunayGas national” (KazMunayGas National Co. JSC), owned by the state, purchased two tankers for the transportation of oil across the Caspian Sea, the maximum tonnage of each of which is 8 thousand tons, which are relatively small vessels by the standards of the oil sector. He added that the company intends to purchase two more vessels with a maximum tonnage of 80 thousand tons each-one of the most used cargo volumes in the sector – to operate in the Black Sea.

Akinginov noted that Kazakhstan is studying those alternatives, while the” Caspian Pipeline Consortium ” passing through Russia still represents the most feasible route for the country’s oil exports, adding that it is difficult for other means of transport to compete with the “Union”.

“Union” shipped about 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports last year, to transport oil through an Overland line, one of the largest fields in the country to the tanker port on the Black Sea, located near the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
Oil exported from the port to Europe is an increasingly important alternative to Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine. However, the suspension of operations at the port in the spring and summer of last year forced Kazakhstan to temporarily reduce oil production, while the war also exacerbated the risks to shipping in the region.