Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev / The Azerbaijan State Caspian Sea Shipping Company (CSC) will begin the transportation of oil from Kazakhstan starting January 2008, under a contract with the US company Chevron, said Aydin Bashirov, the head of CSC on 30 October.
According to Bashiyev, the contract expects the transportation of 2mln tons of oil per year. It will be transported through Azerbaijan. "The US company has appealed for transportation", Bashiyev said.
In total, the company is planning to transport around 5mln tons of oil through Azerbaijan, part of which will be carried by Kazakh tankers.
The oil transportation will be carried out by the Cross Caspian, which belongs in part to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).
Chevron is the operator of the Kazakh field Tengiz. Oil from Tengiz will be transported through the Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline operated by BTC Co and via railways to the Georgian ports of Kulevi and Batumi.
Chevron will supply oil from the Tengiz onshore field by railways to Kazakhstan's Caspian port of Aktau and onwards to the Baku port. From the Baku port, oil will be supplied to a terminal in Sangachal operated by BP, where an outlet to BTC is located.
Oil will be supplied to the Georgian ports by railway. The owner of Georgia's Black Sea terminal in Kulevi is SOCAR, while Batumi is held by the Kazakh - Dutch joint venture.