Baku News

21 April 2007 - UPI News - Kazakhstan is urging Moscow not to take offense at its decision to diversify shipments of oil, most of which flow through Russia. "Many countries are interested in energy fuels from Kazakhstan, and this is also an issue of general policy, because the more pipelines the better for Kazakhstan's strategic interests," said Kazakh Senate Speaker Kasym-Shomart Tokayev. Kazakhstan exports 1.1 million barrels per day, the 14th-largest exporter in the world, according to the Energy Information Administration, the data arm of the U.S. Energy Department. While most of that is sent to market through pipelines via Russia, President Nursultan Nazarbayev intends to double its exports by 2015, RIA Novosti reports. To do so, Kazakhstan wants to not only ship through Russia, but other strategic economic avenues as well. "We are clear and consistent in our commitments to Moscow, which must not be violated," Tokayev said. "But at the same time we are sure that there must be an alternative in constructing pipelines." Aside from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline, which transits through Russia, Kazakhstan also ships to China via the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline. It is also a partner in the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline -- Azerbaijan to Georgia to Turkey -- and the Odessa-Brody pipeline from Ukraine to Poland.