Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 April / Trend corr S. Aliyev/ The new Kulevi oil terminal owned by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will be launched by the end of April or beginning of May, the source close to the project said on 7 April. "Several technical documents have to be approved," the source said.
The terminal will export the oil and oil products of SOCAR and other companies interested in the route. Thus, SOCAR is turning into an upright integrated company which produces oil in its own fields, refines the oil in its two refineries with the total capacity of 20mln tons per year and has its own oil exporting terminal. SOCAR's annual oil production comprises some 9mln tons, refining of crude oil exceeds 6mln tons per year. SOCAR owns 34% of the stocks of Cross Caspian Oil and Gas Logistic which is engaged in the transportation of oil and oil products via railway to Georgia.
The tariff for transportation of cargos via Kulevi will not be higher than that for Batumi. "However, the tariff will not be lower, because the Kulevi route is shorter than the Batumi one. Georgia offers lower tariffs for the transportation of over 4mln tons," the source said.
SOCAR owns the Kulevi terminal. The company received a large syndicated credit for its construction. The gross amount of the credit, which was established by a consortium of 15 foreign banks headed by Societe Generale, totalled $301mln. The loan is expected to be paid back by 2009.
At present, the capacity of the terminal equals 9mln tons (2mln tons of crude oil, 3mln tons of diesel fuel and 4mln tons of black oil). The capacity of the reserve tank of the terminal is 320,000 cu m. There are plans to increase the capacity of the terminal up to 20mln tons and the reserve capacity up to 380,000 cu m.
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