Kazakhstan to raise oil flows via BTC pipeline by 16% in April, industry sources say

MOSCOW, April 9 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan plans to raise oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline by 16% in April from March, two industry sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The pipeline, which has the capacity to move more than one million barrels per day, is designed to deliver oil from the landlocked Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, bypassing some politically unstable regions, including Iran and Russia's Caucasus.

Running 1,768 km (1,100 miles), the BTC is crucial for delivering Azeri and Kazakh oil to global markets via Turkey.

The sources, who were not authorised to speak to the media, did not specify why supply through the BTC pipeline was being hiked.

Kazakhstan plans to send between 140,000 metric tons and 150,000 tons of oil from the port of Aktau for further supplies via the BTC this month, up from 124,500 tons in March, the sources said.

They added that around 120,000 tons will be delivered from Kazakhstan's largest oilfield, Tengiz, operated by Chevron's CVX.N venture Tengizchevroil. The rest will be supplied from the Kashagan oilfield.

Tengizchevroil and Kashagan's operator NCOC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The increase in supplies via the BTC comes amid Tengiz returning to full production after power supply disruptions earlier this year.

Kazakhstan ships around 80% of its oil exports via a pipeline owned by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and its terminal on Russia's shore of the Black Sea.