Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 11 / Trend , E.Ismayilov/
Middle East Petrol (part of Azersun Holding) plans to launch transshipping Kazakhstan's oil from Tengiz field via Azerbaijani oil terminal in Georgia's Kulevi port on the Black Sea in summer 2009, said Azersun Holding President Abdolbari Goozal.
"Transportation of the Tengiz oil via the Georgian Batumi port on the Black Sea was launched several months ago. Now we are preparing to transship oil via the Kulevi port. Transshipment will be launched in roughly six months," he said.
Goozal did not divulge amounts of the Tengiz oil to be transported via Kulevi and Batumi. "It is wrong to make statements on behalf of Kazakhstan," he said.
Middle East Petrol plans to transship roughly 3.5-4 million tons of oil via Kulevi in 2009 and the same volume via Batumi, said Goozal.
In 2008, ChevronTexaco started shipping oil from Kazakhstan's Tengiz field through the territory of Azerbaijan. The oil is transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and by the railway to the Georgian ports Batumi and Kulevi.
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.
Transshipment capacity of the terminal is 10 million tons of oil cargo per year, including 2 million tons of oil, 3 million tons of diesel fuel, and 4 million tons of fuel oil.
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