Kazakh oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, a route bypassing Russia, rose by 38% in February from January to 97,300 metric tons (around 28,000 barrels per day), according to data from pipeline company KazTransOil (KZTO.KZ).

Kazakhstan currently relies heavily on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), one of the world’s largest pipelines that crosses Russia to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.

The main alternative route to the CPC is the BTC pipeline, which originates in Azerbaijan on the opposite side of the Caspian to Kazakhstan.

But getting Kazakh oil to Baku requires either tanker shipments across the sea or the construction of a trans-Caspian pipeline. The existing fleet is modest, and pipeline talks between the sea’s littoral states have stalled for decades over territorial disputes.

KazTransOil also said that oil exports via the Atasu-Alashankou pipeilne to China fell in the same period by 9% from the previous month to 73,685 tons.
Source: Reuters