Sanctions and oil: Georgia is counting on Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

The National Statistics Service of Georgia has published data confirming the country’s refusal to import Russian oil.

In July 2026, Georgia imported crude oil from Kazakhstan for the first time. The supply volume amounted to 5,500 tons, worth 1.2 million dollars. This is the first time Kazakh oil has appeared in Georgian statistics data. It was purchased for the oil refinery (OR) in Kulevi.

The Kulevi Oil Refinery (Kulevi Oil Refinery) of Black Sea Petroleum (BSP) is the only operating oil refinery in Georgia. Previously, the plant operated on Russian raw materials, but now it will have to stop using them due to sanctions. Moreover, we are talking about sanctions imposed by the European Union on the refinery itself. The sanctions will come into force in January of next year if the Kulevi refinery does not stop processing Russian oil. This is very disadvantageous for the plant. Firstly, Russian oil costs him less than Kazakh oil. Secondly, from the point of view of logistics, purchases from Russia are much easier than from Kazakhstan.

A Georgian company cannot disobey instructions from Brussels. To be on the EU sanctions list would be a disaster for an enterprise that was only put into operation at the end of last year. Moreover, the company plans to enter the European market, and it will not be possible to do so with fuel produced from Russian oil, even if we ignore the sanctions — which, in fact, should not be ignored.

The EU had planned to include the Kulevi refinery in the 20th package of sanctions, but after consultations with the Georgian authorities, it removed the plant from the sanctions package. However, this time the diplomatic efforts did not yield results. The only concession the EU granted to the Georgian side was a six?month delay until January?25,?2027, so that the refinery could diversify its raw material sources.

The Kulevi refinery is the first of its kind in Georgia. The first phase, with a capacity of 1.2?million tons per year, was launched at the end of 2025. The project cost 150?million dollars. Today, the enterprise produces naphtha, fuel oil, and high?sulfur diesel fuel. After the launch of the second line and the corresponding technological equipment of the plant, the plant will produce Euro?5 standard gasoline, aviation fuel, Euro?diesel, and bitumen. To this end, in early 2026, BSP signed a licensing agreement with the American company Honeywell.

The company has big plans. They have been somewhat complicated by the requirements of the European Union, but there is still a way out — oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. And first and foremost, we are talking about Kazakh oil. Kazakhstan, due to the risks that have emerged for its oil exports via the Russian pipeline infrastructure, is gradually increasing supplies through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan system. Georgia expects an increase in the export of Kazakh oil through Georgian territory. Ekaterina Sisauri, General Director of the Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia, told journalists that the country is fully prepared to ensure the transit of increased volumes of Kazakh oil via the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan and Baku–Supsa routes. According to her, the Baku–Supsa oil pipeline has not been operating in recent years, but thanks to agreements with Azerbaijan, its operation will be resumed, which will make it possible to use the route for the transit of Kazakh oil to world markets.

It should be noted that in July, KazTransOil (KTO) shipped 155,000 tons of oil to the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is 11.5 percent more than in July 2025. Overall, last year 1.2 million tons of Kazakh oil were transported via the BTD. In 2026, it is planned to pump 2.2 million tons.Problems with the CPC pipeline (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) began long before Ukrainian drones started disabling its infrastructure. The Russian side did not fulfill its obligations conscientiously enough, sometimes creating problems for Kazakhstan when it did not like Astana’s behavior. The first serious warning sign was the suspension of oil pumping for thirty days in August 2022 due to “damage to the environment.” This was not the first time that CPC’s operations had been hampered by Russian environmentalists. Astana drew the right conclusions and seriously considered the need for an alternative, and the issue of the inactive Baku–Supsa oil pipeline was raised. Kazakh President Kassym?Jomart Tokayev called for diversifying the routes for the supply of Kazakh oil. As a priority goal, he proposed working out the optimal options for using the Trans?Caspian route and instructed KazMunayGas to work out the optimal way to implement it, including the possibility of attracting investors from the Tengiz project.

In March 2023, SOCAR announced the start of the transit of Kazakh oil via the Baku?Tbilisi?Ceyhan pipeline. The first batch of Kazakh oil from the Tengiz field was delivered to the Sangachal terminal from the port of Aktau. In March 2024, an agreement was concluded between KazMunayGas and SOCAR on a phased increase in oil transit through the territory of Azerbaijan to 2.2 million tons per year. At the same time, the first test shipment of oil from the Kashagan field via the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan took place. And in January 2025, Kazakhstan sent the first tanker with oil from the Kashagan field to Azerbaijan for transportation via the BTD.

This August, Georgia expects an increase in the supply of Kazakh oil via Georgian territory and by rail. It is planned that Tengizchevroil will export 100,000 tons of raw materials via this route. The transit will be carried out in cooperation with JSC “Georgian Railway” and the Batumi Oil Terminal. This volume will be five times greater than the amount of oil transported by this route in July.

However, the Baku–Supsa pipeline is the most promising. In June 2016, BP transferred the operational functions of the Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP, Baku–Supsa) to the state structures of Azerbaijan and Georgia. The British company retained only the facilities located on the territory of the Sangachal terminal.

The Baku–Supsa oil pipeline originates in Sangachal and extends to the tanker loading facility in the Black Sea, which connects to the Georgian Supsa terminal. The pipeline is 836 kilometres long. The pipeline was launched in 1999 and became the first one to bypass Russia, depriving it of its monopoly on the transit of Azerbaijani oil. In addition, high?quality Azeri Light began to enter world markets in its pure form for the first time.

Despite the fact that oil pumping via the Baku–Supsa pipeline was suspended in March 2022 by BP and physical transportation of the raw material through the pipeline is not taking place, the facility, according to experts, is in working order and is technically ready to resume supplies at any time if necessary.

This necessity became relevant after the start of pumping Kazakh oil through the South Caucasus. And now, with the EU tightening sanctions against Russian hydrocarbons, Kazakh oil has acquired extraordinary importance for Georgia.