KAZAKHSTAN TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE OIL SUPPLIES BY BYPASSING RUSSIA

Kazakhstan will dramatically increase oil exports through Baku, Tbilisi and Ceyhan next year, from 1.5 million tons to 20 million, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliev told parliament, Reuters reports.

According to him, the country will increase production, and there is also interest from Azerbaijan in gradually increasing supplies through the Caspian Sea, which allows Russia to be excluded from the list of intermediaries.

Currently, more than 80% of Kazakh oil exports pass through Russian territory. This year, 55.4 million tons will be sent through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline, and another 8.6 million along the Atyrau-Samara route. If the plans can be implemented, the share will be reduced to about two-thirds.

Earlier, Bloomberg writer Javier Blas suggested that Kazakhstan will become a headache for OPEC+ next year as it seeks to increase exports against the backdrop of serious investments in oil production in recent years. The cartel and its allies regularly face this problem, with Algeria, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates acting as internal enemies in recent years.

The price of January futures for a barrel of Brent crude oil on the morning of November 26 was around $72.4. The day before, oil prices had fallen sharply on the possibility of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which would reduce tensions in the Middle East.