BAKU, April 7 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are
in talks to pipe 5 million tonnes of Kazakh crude via the
Baku-Supsa pipeline this year, three sources familiar with the
talks told Reuters on Friday, as Astana looks to ease its
dependence on transit via Russia.
The oil may come from the giant Kashagan field on the Kazakh
shelf of the Caspian Sea, one of the sources said.
According to two Azeri officials and one Kazakh official,
neither of whom were authorised to talk publicly, Azerbaijan has
made the offer and the sides are now discussing the details.
Kazakhstan, which pipes most of its oil to Europe via the
Caspian Pipeline Consortium link which crosses Russia, is trying
to diversify routes due to the Ukrainian conflict.
It has already started piping oil via the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which originates in Azerbaijan.
(Reporting by Naila Bagirova; writing by Olzhas Auyezov;
editing by Jason Neely)
Messaging: olzhas.auyezov.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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