BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 29. KazMunayGas JSC (KMG, Kazakhstan's national oil and gas company) plans to increase the volume of oil transportation through Azerbaijan, as stated in a statement of the Chairman of the Board of KMG Magzum Mirzagaliyev, published by the press service of the joint-stock company, Trend reports.
"The head of state (President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev) set the task of developing the so-called Middle Corridor or Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which includes transportation across the Caspian Sea. As part of this route, last year we began transporting oil in the direction of Baku and further along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. Our plans are to increase transportation volumes along this route," he said.
As he pointed out, this does not mean that Kazakhstan is looking for an alternative to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) oil pipeline.
"CPC remains reliable, stable and, most importantly, the fastest route for delivering our oil to export markets. Last year, we also began transporting oil towards Germany. At the end of 2023, we transported almost 1 million tons of oil to this country, and we expect that this year we will exceed this volume," Mirzagaliyev noted.
Meanwhile, in 2022, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered an increase in the volume of oil transportation along the Trans-Caspian corridor. Following this instruction, KazMunayGas and Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) entered into an agreement providing for the transportation of 1.5 million tons of oil per year from the Tengiz field in the direction of the oil pipeline Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan.
In 2023, Kazakhstan transported 1.392 million tons of oil via the BTC, which is 5.5 times more than in 2022.
The Middle Corridor is a transportation and trade route that connects Asia and Europe, passing through several countries in the region. It is an alternative route to the traditional Northern Corridor and Southern Corridor.
The route starts in China and crosses Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. It then passes through the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye before reaching Europe.
The Middle Corridor offers a land route that connects the eastern parts of Asia, including China, with Europe, bypassing the longer maritime routes.