Kazakhstan, Astana, August 26 / Trend , K.Konirova /
U.S. stands ready to provide any political support for the Kazakh Caspian Transportation System (KCTS) project, U.S. Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar told Trend special correspondent on Aug.26.
"... From our point of view, it is quite reasonable project and we are ready to provide any political support for it," said Morningstar.
He said that KCST and the expansion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium is a realistic way of transporting oil from the Caspian region.
Yeskene-Kuryk Pipeline is part of the KCTS developed by Kazakhstan as one of the routes for oil exports. In addition to the Yeskene-Kuryk pipeline, within KCTS there are plans to create trans-Caspian system, which will consist of oil terminals in the Kazakh coast of the Caspian, ships and tankers, oil terminals on the Azerbaijani coast of the Caspian Sea and facilities connecting to the system of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
"We also hope that a gas pipeline will be built via the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan. The President of Turkmenistan has already declared his readiness to supply gas to Europe. But certain measures and steps should be taken to implement the project," said the special envoy.
He said that Turkmenistan should increase both offshore and onshore production.
Moreover, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have to agree that such a pipeline would be possible, and resolve all issues that exist between them.
"In general, we support the possibility of implementing such a project. With regards to the financial support, there should be no expectation that there will be any direct subsidies from the U.S. government," said Morningstar.
"Potentially it is possible to involve U.S. financial agencies such as the Export-Import Bank and the Corporation Investments Abroad. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency can provide support for the project feasibility study. The international financial institutions, where the United States is a major participant, also can provide assistance. But in any case, the project should be implemented by private commercial organizations," said the special envoy.
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