KazMunayGas Chair: Kazakhstan's Oil Does Not Reduce Azeri Light Quality

Deliveries of Kazakhstan's oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline do not reduce the quality of the Azerbaijani brand Azeri Light. This was stated by the Chair of the Board of the national company KazMunayGas Askhat Khassenov, Orda.kz reports.

On the sidelines of a Committee on Ecology and Nature Management meeting on March 6, an Orda.kz journalist asked Askhat Khassenov whether KazMunayGas plans to develop alternative routes for oil exports after the CPC station in Russia was attacked by drones.

The head of KMG said the CPC remains the main supply route, but the national company is also working on other options.

You know that we send oil to Germany to the plant in Schwedt. Also, we have the Aqtau-Baku-Ceyhan route, and further to the Mediterranean. We have shown all the figures in the reports before. In any case, we are running both the main route and the alternative route. Today, CPC is operating,  said Askhat Khassenov.

Khassenov recalled that following the results of negotiations with the Azerbaijani state corporation SOCAR, they plan to increase the supply of Kazakhstan's oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline to 1.7 million tons of oil per year.

At that time, SOCAR had concerns about increasing these supplies: the Azerbaijani side did not want to worsen the quality of its Azeri Light brand by mixing it with Kazakhstan's more sulfurous oil.

Askhat Khassenov assured that KMG is "in constant contact" with SOCAR and supplies Kazakhstan's oil in such volumes that do not affect the quality of Azeri Light.

Each of our sent oil batches is checked. So, today there is no deterioration in the quality of oil. The volume that we transport corresponds to the permitted parameters,emphasized Askhat Khassenov.

While Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry proposed significant increases in BTC pipeline capacity last year, the recent KMG-SOCAR agreement includes only modest volume increases, as Azerbaijan remains concerned about maintaining Azeri Light oil quality standards.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny