Kazakhstan, Astana, May 7 / Trend D.Mukhtarov/
The modern history of independent Azerbaijan's oil industry is directly linked with the name of Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev, head of the Kazakh oil transportation company KazTransOil, Kairgeldy Kabyldin told Trend.
According to Kabyldin, at present, the route of transportation of Kazakh oil through Azerbaijan is one of the priority directions.
"Today, the route through Azerbaijan which will be used for the upcoming great volume of oil from the Kashagan field is one of the priorities in our strategic plans on the transportation of Kazakh oil to the world markets. This is the direct merit of esteemed Heydar Aliyev, which I was lucky enough to know personally," Kabyldin underscored.
"I remember the first meeting of the then Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Nurlan Balgimbaev with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, who, as an offer, said that the large export of Kazakh oil to the world markets must pass through Azerbaijan. And this idea has been realized," Kabyldin said.
Kabyldin reminded that to ensure stable and reliable transportation of hydrocarbons from the Caspian basin, Azerbaijan has implemented a mega project - the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline.
"It is noteworthy that this plan was carried out in Kazakhstan as well. In October 2008, the U.S. company Chevron, which is the operator of one of the major fields of Kazakhstan - Tengiz, began transporting Kazakh oil by tankers across the Caspian Sea and then via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Already in 2008, 314,000 tons of Tengiz oil was transported via the BTC to the Mediterranean markets," he said.
According to Kabyldin, cooperation with all countries of the Caspian region is traditional for Kazakhstan.
"Therefore, decisions made at the time by the two leaders of our countries - Heydar Aliyev and Nursultan Nazarbayev are the ones we rely on," Kabyldin said.