Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend V.Sharifov / The statement by President Nursultan Nazarbayev stated that Kazakhstan would export almost all its oil via Russia, was a bit confusing, says editor-in-Chief of Nefte Compass magazine, Michael Ritchie.
Field publication of Nefte Compass is part of the Energy Intelligence media group. "The bottom line is that Kazakhstan will ultimately have to use multiple export routes as its oil production climbs above 3 million barrels per day in the next decade," he stressed in his letter.
Kazakhstan will continue to rely heavily on routes through Russia, including the Atyrau-Samara pipeline and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline, which will eventually be expanded, as well as relying on established rail routes.
A pipeline to China already exists and major western companies developing fields in the Caspian region of Kazakhstan, including the giant Kashagan field, are developing a cross-Caspian link from Kazakhstan to Baku, to link into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
" Russia will remain as an important partner for Kazakhstan, and oil exports through that route will grow. But there is also a need for the other, non-Russian export solutions," Ritchie said.
According to Azerbaijani experts, the transportation of the entire volume of Kazakh oil via the territory of Russia is technically impossible. During the height of oil production, even with the use of all existing routes (with the consideration of expansion of their full discharge capacity), Kazakhstan will still have a deficit in export capacities.
In 2006, oil export together with condensate from Kazakhstan made up 57.2mln tons, or an increase of 10.6% as compared to 2005).