ASTANA, March 11. /TASS/. Kazakhstan expects to increase the volume of transit of its oil along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route from 1.5 mln tons to 2.2 mln tons per year - the agreement was signed by the National Company of Kazakhstan KazMunayGas (KMG) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).

In 2022, KMG and SOCAR entered into an agreement on the transit of oil along the Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route with an annual volume of 1.5 mln tons. According to the KMG press service, during the state visit of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Azerbaijan on Monday, the companies signed an agreement on a gradual increase in the volume of transit of Kazakh oil through Azerbaijani territory, which provides for an increase in the volume of shipments of Kazakh oil along the Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route up to 2.2 mln tons per year.

Furthermore, under the terms of this agreement, the parties will continue to address matters such as lowering transportation prices along the Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route and transferring oil from Kazakhstan along the Baku-Supsa route.

In addition, the companies inked a memorandum of strategic collaboration for the procurement and selling of oil from Kazakhstan. The document establishes the general terms and conditions for the purchase and sale of Kazakh oil for further processing at the SOCAR group's oil refineries, as well as future trading in regional and global markets.

Tokayev arrived in Azerbaijan on Monday on a state visit. After the negotiations with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, the first meeting of the Supreme Interstate Council took place. In addition, the heads of the two states watched a container train arrive from the Chinese port of Xi'an to the Absheron station in Baku's suburbs via video link.