Kazakhstan is diversifying its export routes and will supply oil bypassing Russia. Kazakh President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev instructed the government a day after a Russian court ordered the Caspian Pipeline Consortium to suspend operations for 30 days.

This was reported by Reuters.

Stopping the pipeline, which carries oil from the large Tengiz field in Kazakhstan through Russia to the Black Sea, would put a strain on the oil market as it faces one of its worst supply disruptions since the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s.

Tokayev, who has sought to balance relations with Russia, the West and China, ordered the study of a pipeline across the Caspian Sea, a previously proposed project that would bring Kazakh oil to Europe bypassing Russia.

Tokayev said improving port infrastructure on the Caspian Sea was a "strategic objective" for the Kazakh government, according to the president's website. However, he did not mention the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

Highly dependent on fossil fuels, Kazakhstan depends on Russian pipelines to export oil to Europe.

On Wednesday, a court in the Russian city of Novorossiysk ordered the CPC pipeline, which carries about 1% of the world's oil, to suspend operations, citing problems related to oil spills.

Recall, Brent crude oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on July 7.