Kazakh oil may be delivered to world market through Azerbaijan

Kazakh Minister has stated about possible changes in energy policy of the country. It is a question of transfer of export of Kazakh oil from the Caspian pipeline consortium, which is laid through the Russian territory to port of Novorossiysk and then to the world market, to Azerbaijani direction. The Kazakh Minister of Oil and Gas Uzakbai Karabalin called possible sanctions against Russia as a possible reason of this. If the energy sector is affected, Kazakhstan will suffer too, the Minister said. 32 million tons of Kazakh oil are pumped via the CPC. Karabalin reported that new oil export routes for the transfer of this volume are studied. "We need to think about other possibilities. Today we consider different variant," - the Minister Uzakbai Karabalin said during the "government hour" in the parliament of the country.

Today Kazakhstan is one of the largest oil producers in the world. In 1899, first oil gusher was received at the first developed Kazakhn field Karashungul which began the history of Kazakh oil. Over these years, dozens of fields have been developed and explored in the country, and kilometers of pipelines were built. Peak of the oil production occurred during the years of independence. At the same time, de facto Kazakhstan lost control over most of its hydrocarbons, and didn’t become "the second Kuwait". Kazakh scientists have calculated that the state's share in the total production of oil and gas is only about 27%. The remaining production is owned by foreign companies and is exported by them. China leads among the "foreigners". Chinese companies control more than 40 % of Kazakh oil, and will have a half of the annual extraction in the future. Oil is delivered to China via the Atasu – Alashankou oil pipeline from deposits in Central Kazakhstan. Also, possibility to supply oil from the western regions of the country is considered, for which a discharge jetty was built in Atasu for receiving oil from railway tanks and its further transshipment to the Atasu - Alashankou pipeline. As the Minister of Oil and Gas Uzakbai Karabalin stated, in the near future the Atasu - Alashankou pipeline should make its full capacity and pump 20 million tons of oil. "We have a program to strengthen this direction for two years to pump 20 million tons to China," - Karabalin said.