Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 4 / Trend /
State
Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) will transship 8-10 million tons of
crude oil and petroleum products via its Kulevi terminal on the Black Sea in Georgia in 2009, the company said on Feb. 4.
Currently the company is working on a project of moor-less loading of large
tankers.
Kulevi terminal was commissioned in May and launched transshipment of petroleum
products in June 2008. Capacity
of the terminal is 10 million tons of oil cargo per year, including 3 million
tons of oil, 3 million tons of diesel fuel, and 4 million tons of fuel oil.
Kulevi terminal can simultaneously accept up to 168 cistern carriage. The tank battery's capacity totals 320,000 cubic meters. The port is capable of admitting tankers with deadweight of up to 100,000 tons, which makes the project economically rational. There are plans to increase the transshipment capacity of the terminal to 15-20 million tons.
Socar invested $340 million in this terminal.
Socar's
another Georgia-based enterprise is Socar Energy Georgia. It was commissioned
in August 2006. The enterprise has imported 362,000 tons of petroleum products,
of which 357,000 tons are Azerbaijani petroleum products. In 2008, Socar Energy
Georgia transferred 159 million lari to the state budget of Georgia.
Since May 2008 Socar Georgia Gas (another Socar subsidiary) imported 110
million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan and sold it in the Georgian market.
The company won the tender to privatize the Georgian gas distribution system.
This will enable to ensure gas supply to 30 major regions of Georgia, Socar said.