TBILISI, December 4 – Georgia’s Black Sea oil business was rocked again on Thursday as three employees of the Batumi oil terminal were detained on charges of bypassing customs procedures and illegally disposing of more than ten thousand tons of crude.
The State Investigative Service said the value of the undeclared oil exceeds 15 million lari (5.6 million USD). Senior figures at the terminal allegedly removed the crude from storage tanks and handled it without clearing customs.
The terminal, registered in 1999, is fully owned by Kazakhstan’s KazTransOil, which operates under Kazakhstan’s state-controlled Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund. The company also holds exclusive management rights to the Batumi Sea Port under a 49-year agreement signed in 2006.
Thursday’s arrests add a new chapter to the long and complicated history of the Batumi oil terminal, one of the most significant strategic objects on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. According to the terminal’s 2024 reporting, the Kazakhstan-based ownership structure has overseen a large and technically capable facility. The terminal can store more than four hundred thousand tons of crude and petroleum products across 132 tanks and can load as many as 180 rail tankers at once. Annual throughput capacity is listed at up to eleven million tons. In 2024 the terminal generated revenue of 43 million lari (16 million USD) and posted a consolidated profit of 5 million (2 million USD).
But the terminal’s operational history has been marred by turbulence, such as disputes over asset control, questions about transparency, turnover in management, and operational slowdowns tied to fluctuating regional transit patterns. There have also been questions around customs handling, contract compliance, and port governance.
Georgia’s Black Sea ports play a major role in regional energy logistics, connecting Central Asia’s oil flows to global markets via the Caspian Sea. Batumi together with Poti and Kulevi form the backbone of that infrastructure.
