MOSCOW: Russia's oil pipeline monopoly Transneft said Kazakhstan oil transiting via the Atyrau-Samara pipeline could rise by as much as 2 million tonnes in 2017 to 17 million tonnes, due to the start of supplies from the Kashagan oilfield.
That would amount to 340,000 barrels a day. Transneft head Nikolai Tokarev said that the company had already held preliminary talks with shareholders of Kashagan on transit volumes.
The Kashagan field off Kazakhstan in the Caspian sea is expected to start production in October and reach 180,000 barrels per day by the end of this year, gradually rising in the years to come.
"The Atyrau-Samara pipeline will have the capacity to handle 17 million tonnes of Kazakhstan crude in 2017, but the actual volume of transit next year is yet to be agreed and may be different," a Transneft spokesman told Reuters.
The quarterly allocation for Kazakhstan's crude oil transit was increased by 430,000 tonnes, to 4.9 million tonnes in October-December this year, compared to July-September, a quarterly schedule obtained by Reuters shows.
Traders say that the rise in transit volumes will be due to the start of supplies from the Kashagan field.
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