Kazakhstan said Monday it prefers Iran over Russia and Azerbaijan as an alternative crude oil transport route to Europe, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported July 5, citing a Kazakh diplomat.
The best alternative route for transporting oil to Europe is through Iran, Fars cited Serik Primbetov, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Azerbaijan, as saying at a press conference.
Kazakhstan is slated to export roughly 200 million tons of oil annually and will be the second largest oil exporter after Russia in the former Soviet region, according to Fars.