Kazakhstan sends oil to Azerbaijan via Caspian Sea, bypassing Russia for first time

Kazakhstan has made the first test shipment of its oil from the Kashagan Field through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, Kaztransoil and Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO) announced on March 20.

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Oil from the Kashagan Field, located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, was delivered to the Kazakh port of Aktau, and from there to Baku.

The tanker "Akademik Khoshbakht Yusifzade" owned by ASCO was used for transportation. The first cargo contains 6,900 tons of crude oil.

"The test shipment showed the possibility of diversifying export routes for Kashagan oil by means of railway transportation towards the Trans-Caspian route," reads the website of Kaztransoil.

Currently, the main export route for Kazakh oil runs through Russia. It reaches Novorossiysk through the pipeline system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, and from there the fuel goes to its destination by sea.

Kazakhstan has no direct access to the world ocean.

• In mid-2022, Kazakhstan had problems with oil exports, when President Kassym-Dzhomart Tokayev, in the presence of the Russian dictator, declared that he would not recognize the independence of the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
• The next day, the Russian media reported that the shipment of Kazakh oil through the port to Novorossiysk may be periodically suspended, because torpedoes and mines from the Second World War were allegedly unexpectedly found in its waters.
• Later, Tokayev said that Kazakhstan is diversifying its oil supply using the Trans-Caspian route. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov reported in November 2022 that the country has an agreement to transport 1.5 million tons of oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.