Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev, V.Sharifov / The oil terminal in Kulevi (off the Black
Sea coast of Georgia), belonging to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), will be commissioned by the end of October, SOCAR official sad on 20 September.
The terminal in Kulevi has been acquired by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) which possesses a 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 t of cargo is 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 $301mln. A credit amounting to $265mln was received at the beginning of the year and recently an additional $40mln was obtained. The credit syndicate from fifteen foreign banks was headed by Societe Generale. The credits are expected to be returned by 2009.
Presently the capacity of the terminal equals 10mln t. 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 15-20mln t and the 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 Poti-Kulevi is shorter than the Batumi line.