New Link Takes Kazakh Oil to China – Raushan Nurshayeva

From Reuters, via The Moscow Times:

Kazakh oil started flowing into a new pipeline to China on Thursday, the first such route from an ex-Soviet state and the start of a project that could give Beijing direct access to Caspian Sea crude.

The pipeline, partly financed by energy-hungry China, which has pledged to take responsibility for filling it with oil, is also a step toward breaking Kazakh dependence on its former imperial master, Russia for export routes.