Talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday included discussions about a possible increase in Kazakh oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, according to a statement.
"The delegations discussed issues of cooperation in the energy sector, including prospects for increasing exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline," the press service of the leader of Kazakhstan reported, without providing additional details.
The agenda of Tokayev's visit to Türkiye for a meeting of the two countries' high-level strategic cooperation council also included cooperation in power generation, agriculture and mining.
Erdoğan and Tokayev oversaw the signing of 20 agreements, including deals on cooperation in energy and mining.
Kazakhstan increased oil exports via BTC in the first half of 2025 by 12% compared to the same period last year to 785,000 tons (34,000 barrels per day), according to the state statistics.
Oil is delivered to Baku by tankers via the Caspian Sea from the port of Aktau, which would need upgrading to increase export levels. Also, oil exports via BTC are limited by the quality requirements for Kazakh crude to join the pipeline.
Kazakhstan, in its development plan until 2029, considered the possibility of building a trans-Caspian oil pipeline and marine terminals on the Kazakh and Azerbaijani coasts of the Caspian Sea.
Kazakhstan, whose main income comes from oil exports, is the world's biggest landlocked country, and the two main routes for exporting its oil to international markets pass through Russia to its Black Sea and Baltic ports.
Exports of Kazakh oil circumventing Russian ports made up just 5.9% of the total exported volume of 32.6 million tons in the first six months of 2025 and this share remained unchanged from 2024, according to state statistics.
In 2022, President Tokayev called for an increase in oil exports bypassing Russia. Following this, Kazmunaigaz and Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR concluded an agreement, envisaging the transport of 1.5 million tons of oil per year from the Tengiz oil field to the BTC.
Türkiye said on Tuesday that the agreements signed with Kazakhstan would enhance bilateral relations in oil, natural gas and mineral resources.
The deals aim to promote collaboration in oil and gas exploration and production, transportation and storage, as well as in electricity generation and renewable energy development, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said.
"With the energy agreement, we aim to develop joint projects in a broad spectrum, from oil and gas exploration and production to electricity and renewable energy," Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar wrote on the social media platform X.
"In mining, we intend to promote partnerships that will stimulate exploration and production," Bayraktar added.
In addition to the intergovernmental agreements, Türkiye's national oil company, Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), signed a cooperation deal with KazMunayGas (KMG), Kazakhstan's state-owned oil and gas company.
The deal covers joint activities in hydrocarbon exploration, development and production. According to the statement, the two companies plan to conduct technical and commercial evaluations of potential fields together and aim to deepen their strategic partnership in energy.
