Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev / One access railway line will be built to intensify the commissioning of the oil terminal in Kulevi (Black sea coast of Georgia), belonging to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). Further additional lines of that kind will be commissioned in the terminal, a reliable source said on 13 September.
"The work in the terminal is fully complete. After the completion of the construction of the railway line it will be put into exploitation, the same source said.
Currently the underground railway line is being constructed in the terminal. The terminal in Kulevy has been acquired by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) which possesses 51% participation share in the project. Shipping cargo is intended to begin with SOCAR products. Currently talks are also held with the shippers from Kazakhstan to attract cargo for transportation. More than 1mln tons of cargo are intended to be shipped this year
This year SOCAR received a large syndicated credit for the construction of the terminal. The gross amount of the credit totaled $301 mln. A credit amounting to $265 mln was received at the beginning of the year and recently an additional $40 mln was obtained. The credit syndicate from 15 foreign banks was headed by Societe Generale. The credits are expected to be returned by 2009.
Presently the capacity of the terminal equals 10 mln tons. The capacity of the reserve park of the terminal is 320,000 cu.m. The capacity of the terminal is planned to be increased up to 15-20 mln tons and reserve part up to 380,000 cu.m.
The experts say that the tariffs for the cargo transportation via this terminal will not be higher than the prices in Batumi. It might be lower, because the Poti-Kulevi wing is shorter than the Batumi line.