KazMunayGas, the national oil and gas company of Kazakhstan, and SOCAR, Azerbaijan's State Oil Company, will sign an agreement to increase the transportation of Kazakh oil through Azerbaijan, Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Chair of the Management Board of KMG, told Trend in an exclusive interview.

"We have a very close working relationship with SOCAR, our longstanding strategic partner. It's noteworthy that since March of last year, we've been transiting Kazakh oil through Azerbaijan, moving approximately 120,000 tons monthly. Now, in conjunction with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's state visit to Azerbaijan on March 11, I, along with my counterpart Rovshan Najafov, plan to sign an agreement to boost the transit of Kazakh oil through Azerbaijan by 1.5 times. Currently, at 120,000 tons per month, this agreement will increase the volume by an additional 60,000 tons, reaching a total of 180,000 tons," he said.

Mirzagaliyev also spoke about the potential transit of Kazakh oil through the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline.

"On March 9, at a meeting with Rovshan Najafov, we agreed that within a month SOCAR will provide us with proposals on the Baku-Supsa route, including the tariff policy," he said.

As Magzum Mirzagaliyev noted, KazMunayGas wants the relationship with SOCAR not to be limited to transportation issues and to include as much as possible the entire range of cooperation.

"So, we have agreed to explore potential projects in the oil and production sector. Furthermore, we've extended an invitation to SOCAR to explore opportunities in geological exploration in Kazakhstan. I briefed Rovshan Najafov on the legislative adoption of the Improved Model Contract (IMC) for subsoil use in 2023, following the directives of President Tokayev. The IMC ensures favorable conditions for investors engaged in geological exploration and production in complex fields. Our discussions involve assessing the possibilities of collaborative projects. In this context, I would not rule out that in the future we can explore joint green projects," he said.

At the same time, Mirzagaliyev named the expected time for the full launch of the project to expand production at the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan.

"We expect that the project to expand production at the Tengiz field will be launched in 2025," he said.

KMG's chair also noted that during his visit to Baku he got acquainted with the work of the Sangachal and Azertrans terminals involved in the transit of Kazakh oil.

"I visited the Astana tanker, owned by Kazmortransflot LLP, responsible for delivering a batch of Tengiz oil to Baku for subsequent transport through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and met with the crew of the tanker - young Kazakhstanis. The crew members observed that in the management of technological processes, special attention is paid to labor and environmental safety issues, ensuring the smooth and secure transportation of oil," Mirzagaliyev concluded.