Kazakhstan will expand Aktau Port to transit oil to the Caucasus

The President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has told Russian newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta that Kazakhstan is planning to increase oil excavation and consequently needs alternative transport routes. One of these routes will be through the Caucasus.

According to Nazarbayev, in the coming years the amount of oil excavated in Kazakhstan will be increased significantly, from the current 70 million tonnes to 100-120 million tonnes. Therefore the transit of oil through Russia only, via the KTK pipeline, will not be enough for Kazakhstan. "That's why the Caucasus direction is interesting for us," Nazarbayev noted.

Aktau Port is being expanded and will eventually transport 15 million tonnes of oil annually to Baku. Kazakhstan has already built a pipeline in the direction of China, through which Russian oil is also being transported. Currently this pipeline transits about 5 million tonnes of oil. In time its capacity will grow to 20 million tonnes.

It should be mentioned that Kazakhstan is going to start building new nuclear energy plants. One will be built in Aktau. There was a nuclear plant in Aktau before, and the staff and their experience have remained in the town. The second plant will be built in central Kazakhstan. Both plants will be built with the support of Russia.