Kazakhstan, Astana, June 6 / Trend A. Maratov, E. Ismayilov /
About 6 million tons of Kazakh and Turkmen oil will be transported through Azerbaijan this year, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said in Astana.
"This year we expect to transport up to 6 million tons of Kazakh and Turkmen crude oil through the territory of Azerbaijan across the Caspian Sea," Abdullayev said.
All Kazakh oil transited via Azerbaijan is transported via railway.
About 2.3 million tons of Turkmen oil were transported via BTC in May 2010-May 2011. The Turkmen oil is transported via BTC within the contract between SOCAR Trading, Dragon oil and other companies extracting oil in Turkmenistan.
SOCAR Trading buys and transports oil from producers in Turkmenistan across the Caspian Sea to the BTC entrance flange at the Sangachal Terminal in Baku.
BTC Co. then transports the oil via the BTC to SOCAR Trading at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkey.
Earlier, the BTC also transported oil from the Kazakh Tengiz Field, which is operated by
Tengizchevroil (Chevron). However, oil shipments were suspended earlier this year due to the non-coordination of transportation conditions.
Abdullayev said negotiations are being held between the BTC shareholders and Tengizchevroil.
However, despite the fact that Kazakh oil is not transported through BTC now, Tengiz oil is
delivered to Azerbaijani terminals by tankers.
Afterwards, it is transported by railway to the Black Sea ports, he said.