The Kazakh company KazMunayGas and the Emirates company Abu Dhabi Port have entered into an agreement on a strategic partnership providing for cooperation in the development of the marine fleet and coastal infrastructure in the Caspian and Black Seas, the National Company JSC Kazmunaigas announced, EADsily reports.
The document was signed during the visit of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the UAE.
The parties will create a joint venture based on the Astana International Financial Center to provide marine services for oil and gas projects in the Caspian Sea.
Under the agreement, Kazakhstan and the UAE will create a merchant fleet to support offshore projects in the Caspian Sea (small draft vessels of various types), as well as a tanker fleet, taking into account the development of alternative routes for the export of Kazakh oil (through the port of Aktau in the direction of Azerbaijan).
In addition, Kazakhstan and the Emirates will explore opportunities for building or acquiring container ferries (transit from China to Europe via the Trans-Caspian route) and dry cargo ships to participate in the transportation of goods along the North-South route (Russia-Iran).
Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADP) is a port, industrial and logistics operator in the UAE, one of the largest holding companies in the region. She owns large enterprises covering key sectors of the diversified economy of the Arab monarchy in the Persian Gulf. ADP manages several clusters including ports, industrial cities and free zones, shipping, logistics and digital technologies.
Azerbaijan has previously indicated that modern geopolitical realities lead to a change in the logistics map in the Eurasian space and the direction of cargo flows, EADaily writes. Baku noted that the countries of Central Asia began to use the transit opportunities offered by Azerbaijan to ensure access to world markets.
Azerbaijan is trying to close on itself the transit flows of a strategic energy carrier, taking into account the new geopolitical reality against the backdrop of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine. Kazakhstan plans to use the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline as an "alternative" route, bypassing transit through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC, connects fields in western Kazakhstan with the port of Novorossiysk).
CentralasianLIGHT.org
January 17, 2023