MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan, the world's
largest landlocked country, increased oil exports that bypassed
Russia last year, but was still heavily reliant on supply
channels via its neighbour, Reuters calculations based on
industry data and sources show.
Kazakhstan has sought ways to decrease its dependence on
Russian exporting routes as it has often faced difficulties in
selling oil through Russia.
Kazakh oil is not subject to Western sanctions, unlike
Russian crude, although the sanctions have created problems for
some Kazakh products.
The main, and most profitable, route for oil exports from
Kazakhstan remains the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which
supplies oil to the global market via a Russian Black Sea
terminal.
Supplies via CPC dipped 1% last year to 51.99 million
tonnes, accounting for more than 80% of total oil supplies from
Kazakhstan.
CPC faced maintenance and other issues, which hindered oil
exports in 2022.
According to Reuters calculations based on industry data and
sources, Kazakhstan's oil exports via routes other than Russia
reached 1.80 million tonnes (36,000 barrels per day) last year,
up by 638,000 tonnes from 2021.
That included 1.26 million tonnes delivered to China,
214,000 tonnes sent via the Georgian port of Batumi, 141,000
tonnes to the oil refinery in Baku, 109,000 tonnes to the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and 80,000 tonnes to Uzbekistan.
(Reporting by Reuters
Editing by Mark Potter)
