Kazakhstan to increase oil exports via Azerbaijan, Tokayev says

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan plan to increase supplies of Kazakh oil via the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the 7th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku. He also proposed a water partnership to exchange technologies and jointly tackle water shortages.

Tokayev said the Caspian Sea is growing in importance for energy security in the region and the world, and that cooperation must be paired with joint efforts to preserve it. Kazakh oil already travels across the Caspian to Baku, then through Georgia by pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. In 2024, KazMunayGas and Azerbaijan's SOCAR agreed to gradually raise supplies to 2.2 million tonnes a year. In July 2026, shipments via Aktau reached 155,000 tonnes, 11.5% more than a year earlier.

Tokayev named water shortages and ecosystem degradation among Asia's most serious challenges, noting the region is home to 60% of the world's population but holds only 35% of its water resources. He also reiterated Kazakhstan's proposal for an International Water Organization within the UN system, which he discussed in April 2026 with UN Special Envoy for Water Resources Retno Marsudi.