Importance of Trans-Caspian route for Kazakhstan’s oil exports growing

The recent drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) pumping station has once again highlighted the need for diversifying Kazakhstan's oil export routes, Kazakhstani expert on Caspian region oil and gas projects, Nurlan Jumagulov told Report.

The expert highlighted that the diversification of export routes is a national security issue for Kazakhstan: "The strike on CPC facilities poses a greater threat to Kazakhstan's economy than to Russia (only 15% of Russian oil is transported through this pipeline). It's hard to envision the future development of oil production in the country without this pipeline."

He underlined that CPC accounts for 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports, and this figure should reach 85% in the future thanks to increased oil volumes from the Tengiz field.

Jumagulov recalled that two years ago, Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the development of the Trans-Caspian route, with the involvement of Tengiz project investors. However, there has been no notable progress in this regard.

The expert added that despite KazMunayGaz increasing oil supplies to Baku and Makhachkala via the Caspian Sea, the volumes remain small, with more oil sent to Makhachkala than to Baku. He stressed the lack of sufficient progress in implementing the Trans-Caspian route with access to Azerbaijan.

Additionally, Jumagulov mentioned that President Tokayev's directive to construct a large oil storage facility in the Atyrau region has yet to be implemented. The expert believes that the existence of such storage facilities could help minimize the impact on production during the restoration period of the pump station damaged by the drone attack.

The Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy stated that CPC management has not issued any official statement regarding restrictions on receiving Kazakhstani oil following the attack. According to the Ministry, 55 million tons of Kazakhstani oil were transported through the CPC system in 2024.