Kazakhstan is buying tankers to ship its oil across across the Caspian and Black Seas, the latest sign that central Asia’s largest crude producer is seeking alternatives to its main export pipeline through Russia.
A unit of state-run KazMunayGas National Co. JSC already bought two tankers with deadweight tonnage of 8,000 tons each — relatively small ships by oil industry standards — to transport petroleum across Caspian Sea, said deputy energy minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov. It plans to buy another two vessels with deadweight tonnage of 80,000 tons each — one of the most common cargo sizes — to operate in the Black Sea, he said.
Kazakhstan plans to expand fuel production at Shymkent refinery in its south by “effectively building new refinery” there by 2030, Akkenzhenov said. The project will double capacity to 12 million tons of oil a year at an estimated cost of $5 billion to $6 billion, he said. Another $500 million may be spent on the expansion of pipeline to the refinery, he said.
A project is under discussion to remove bottlenecks at the Atyrau refinery in the west of the country, which could boost its capacity by 1 million tons, Akkenzhenov said.
It should be noted that the Kazakh oil is already transported through Georgia, including from the port of Batumi. A part is also transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
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