Chevron-Led Tengiz to Resume Kazakhstan Oil Exports via BTC Pipeline in November

Chevron-led TengizChevroil will restart oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in November after months of suspension following contamination issues, signaling Kazakhstan’s effort to diversify away from Russian export routes.

(Reuters) — A Chevron-led consortium developing Kazakhstan's largest oilfield Tengiz will resume oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in November, three industry sources said on Oct. 22.

The pipeline runs through Georgia to Turkey and is used mainly to export oil from the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli oilfields, which are operated by BP.

Organic chloride contamination in Azeri BTC crude cargoes was discovered in July, causing several days' delay in loadings from Turkey's BTC Ceyhan. The TCO consortium suspended exports on the route the following month.

While Kazakhstan resumed oil supplies via the pipeline last month, Tengiz stayed away. One of the sources said the consortium would ship 130,000 metric tons, or more than 1 million barrels, of oil next month.

The TCO consortium and Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR did not reply to requests for comment.

The pipeline is also used by Kazakhstan to lessen its dependence on Russia as a main exporting route. More than 80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports are shipped by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium via Russia's Black Sea Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal.

Kazakhstan usually supplies oil to BTC by tankers from the port of Aktau, mainly from Tengiz, but also from the Kashagan oilfield.

Oil exports via the BTC pipeline declined to 20.569 million tons in the first nine months of the year, from 21.681 million in the same period of 2024, according to Azerbaijan's official data.