By FE Online Desk
Kazakhstan ramped up oil exports bypassing Russia in the first quarter of 2023 as it seeks to reduce its dependency on its vast neighbour, reports Reuters citing data from industry sources and Refinitiv.
While Kazakh oil exports through the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus are relatively small, they have risen sharply since Moscow began what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February last year.
Kazakhstan, which has the longest land border with Russia of any former Soviet state, has been treading a delicate line to reduce dependence on Russia without alienating its neighbour.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has refused to recognise the Russian-annexed regions of Ukraine and has sought to limit Kazakhstan’s reliance on Russia, including on its huge network of oil pipelines and ports.
Data seen showed that oil supplies from the Caspian Sea port of Aktau to Azerbaijan’s Baku, the main single route bypassing Russia, jumped to 163,436 tonnes in January – March from 28,875 tonnes in the same period in 2022.
Kazakhstan’s state transportation company, Kazmortransflot, said that 104,000 tonnes of oil were further sent to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in the January-March period.
Kazakhstan also supplies more than 80,000 tonnes of oil a month to China. Last year, Kazakhstan’s oil exports via routes other than Russia reached 1.8 million tonnes (36,000 barrels per day), up by 638,000 tonnes from 2021.
Kazakh oil is not subject to Western sanctions, unlike Russian crude, although the sanctions have created problems for some Kazakh products.
“Russian ports remain toxic for European buyers, so the oilmen are playing it safe and looking for routes that are not related to the (Russian oil pipeline monopoly) Transneft,” said a Western trader who deals with oil from Kazakhstan.
The main, and most profitable, route for oil exports from Kazakhstan remains the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which supplies the global market via a Russian Black Sea terminal.
Supplies via CPC dipped 1 per cent last year to 51.99 million tonnes, but they still represented more than 80 per cent of total oil exports from Kazakhstan.
Russia receiving more energy payments in yuan and rouble: deputy PM
By FE Online Desk
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday that Russia will continue to accept more payments for energy exports in the country’s rouble currency and China’s yuan as Moscow works to ditch US dollars and euros.
Russia has been cutting business and cultural ties with the West amid a wide range of sanctions imposed on Moscow since the start of what Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow is forging close ties with energy-hungry China as well as India and other countries it considers friendly.
The seizure by the West of some US$300 billion, or half of Russia’s international reserves, after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year also triggered Russia’s moves away from the US dollar and euro.
“The yuan and rouble are in high demand, so that vector will continue. China already pays in yuan for gas and partially for oil, there are settlements in the rouble as well,” Novak told Russian state TV.
According to the Russian central bank, the yuan’s share in Russia’s import settlements in 2022 jumped to 23 per cent from 4 per cent.
