Kazakhstan discusses potential oil exports to Japan amid supply diversification push

Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas has held talks with a Japanese delegation on potential supplies of Kazakh oil to Japan.

Meeting in Astana, the sides–KazMunayGas Chairman Askhat Khassenov and Japan’s Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Arfiya Eri–discussed cooperation in geological exploration as well as prospects for oil exports, Caliber.Az reports, citing Kazakh media.

No specific contracts, volumes, or transport routes have been announced so far.

The officials addressed environmental cooperation, with KazMunayGas expressing interest in projects aimed at reducing methane emissions under the Joint Crediting Mechanism, which allows the use of Japanese technologies and the accounting of emissions reductions in joint climate initiatives.

Japan’s interest in alternative energy sources has grown amid the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, through which most Middle Eastern oil and liquefied natural gas is transported.

Reuters previously noted that about 95% of Japan’s imported oil comes from the region.

For Kazakhstan, potential supplies to Japan represent a step toward diversifying its export routes.

Currently, most Kazakh oil is shipped via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, while the country periodically faces risks on external transit routes, including disruptions via the Druzhba pipeline.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov