ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG) rerouted approximately 300,000 tons of oil in December 2025 due to restrictions on Kazakh oil supplies through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), redirecting shipments via alternative export routes using the KazTransOil (KTO) system to Germany, China, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, and the ports of Novorossiysk and Ust-Luga.
Photo credit: KMG
In January, rerouting efforts are expected to continue as restrictions on CPC oil receipts remain in place, KMG reported on Jan. 16.
The company is also expanding the use of additional export routes. By the end of 2025, Kazakh oil supplies to Germany’s Schwedt refinery reached 2.1 million tons, with volumes expected to rise to 2.5 million tons this year. Shipments from the Aktau port via the BTC pipeline totaled 1.3 million tons in 2025, with exports projected to reach up to 1.6 million tons this year. Stable exports of Kazakh oil to China also continued, reaching 1.1 million tons.
Bloomberg reported on Jan. 14 that Europe’s oil market is tightening sharply despite expectations of a global surplus, with reduced shipments of Kazakhstan’s CPC Blend emerging as the most significant short-term disruption to regional supply. The agency said CPC loadings were cut by nearly 45% from the original plan, tightening supplies of light, sweet crude in Europe and pushing up physical prices in the North Sea and Mediterranean. While exports are expected to recover in February, the loss of Kazakh barrels has intensified market pressure in the most benchmark-sensitive region.
Earlier, KMG reported that its chartered oil tanker Matilda did not sustain serious damage following a drone attack near the CPC Black Sea loading terminal. The vessel, chartered by KMG’s subsidiary Kazmortransflot, was scheduled to load Kazakh crude on Jan. 18, but was targeted by unmanned aerial vehicles on Jan. 13. According to the company, the incident caused an explosion without triggering a fire.
The Nov. 29 last year, Ukrainian drone strike that damaged the second single point mooring at the CPC terminal followed earlier attacks on the Kropotkinskaya pumping station and damage to the consortium’s Novorossiysk administrative office.
