Visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Kazakhstan

During the visit, which ended on April 10, the Presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan discussed key issues of the Kazakh-Azerbaijani strategic partnership, touching upon aspects of political, trade, economic, transport, logistics, cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

Among the key issues on the agenda of interstate partnership, the special importance of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor) was noted.

The parties noted the need to improve logistics services, create unified transport operators, modernize technical and tariff conditions.

The solution of issues in the transport and transit meets the common interests of the two countries and is among the priorities of national transport strategies. Further diversification of energy supplies to world markets will continue.

As President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev noted during a joint press conference, “thanks to our agreements, this year the first batch of Kazakh oil was shipped through Azerbaijan. The next step is to increase the volume of deliveries and make them long-term, stable.”

The port of Kuryk plays an important role in diversifying Kazakhstan's oil export routes through the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Oil from Kazakh fields can be delivered to Baku through a terminal at the port of Kuryk, which will allow it to be delivered to international markets via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which passes through the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey with a final shipment point in the Mediterranean Sea.

The developer and CEO of Semurg Invest, Nurzhan Marabayev, said that negotiations with partners on a project of building a loading terminal that will transship oil from Kazakhstan fields across the Caspian Sea to Baku are currently underway.

“Today, oil and gas companies in Kazakhstan, such as Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, ENI and Inpex, do not yet provide annual volume commitments,” Nurzhan Marabayev notes. “According to our estimates, the construction of the terminal will require no more than $100 million in investments. If the companies undertake to use this terminal, we are ready to invest in its construction at our own expense.”

Recall that the first part of the project in the port of Kuryk is the construction of a grain terminal, which is scheduled to be put into operation in the second quarter of 2023.

The grain terminal will allow exporting products from the region to the countries of the Middle East and Africa. Currently, the terminal is provided with rail links.