Kazakhstan holds talks to resume flows via BTC pipeline

Kazakhstan is holding talks to resume oil transit via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday, citing the Central Asian country's energy ministry.

It was the first time that Kazakhstan had confirmed any disruption to its exports via the BTC, which has been affected by problems with tainted Azerbaijani oil. Industry sources say Kazakh supplies via the route were suspended in early August.

Organic chloride was detected in Azerbaijani BTC crude cargoes last month, pushing price differentials to a four-year low and delaying loadings.

Azerbaijani BTC loadings from Ceyhan totalled 423,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July, according to data from analytics firm Kpler, below the 561,000 bpd scheduled on the loading programme for the month.

Organic chlorides are used to boost extraction from oilfields but must be removed before oil enters pipelines as they can damage refinery equipment.

"There was a report about the suspension (of deliveries via BTC). But I know that now KazMunaiGas is negotiating the earliest possible resumption along this route," Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov was quoted as saying by TASS.

The 1,768-kilometre BTC pipeline, managed by BP, brings oil from the Caspian oilfields of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Usage of the route is part of Kazakhstan's efforts to bypass Russia in exporting its energy. More than 80 per cent of Kazakhstan's oil exports are shipped by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium via a Russian Black Sea port.

Kazakhstan increased oil exports via the BTC in the first half of 2025 by 12 per cent compared to the same period last year to 785,000 tons (34,000 barrels per day), according to state statistics.

Kazakh minister Akkenzhenov was also cited by TASS as saying that supplies of Kazakh oil to Europe are proceeding without delays despite recent Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba pipeline.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)