The company's trading arm, KMG Trading, will act as a seller of the cargoes, he added. (Reporting by Reuters Editing by David Goodman)
(Adds detail)
MOSCOW, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's Kazmunaigaz (KMG)
will start oil shipments via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
pipeline in February, according to three sources familiar with
the matter.
KMG will supply up to 120,000 tonnes of oil to BTC this
month from its share in Tengizchevroil (TCO), which it co-owns
with U.S. oil major Chevron and other shareholders, the
sources said.
The KMG press office did not reply to a request for comment
and Chevron representatives declined to comment.
Kazakhstan's oil producers are looking for new export routes
because the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) export pipeline
ends in Russia, complicating the situation for suppliers owing
to western sanctions on Russian companies and energy supplies.
The supply of oil to BTC is initally by rail to the Caspian
port of Aktau, then via tankers to Baku before being shipped to
the BTC pipeline.
Kaztransoil, which operates the oil terminal in Aktau, said
that KMG plans to load 120,000 tonnes of oil at the port this
month but have no further details.
KMG discussed oil supplies via BTC with Azerbaijan's SOCAR,
a major BTC shareholder, in 2022, Reuters sources said, and
asked to ship up to 1.5 million tonnes a year.
KMG plans to load one cargo of Azeri BTC oil (the grade
exported via the BTC pipeline) per month and later increase
loadings to two cargoes monthly, one of the sources said.
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