Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 29 /Trend, E.Ismayilov/
National oil companies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are interested in increasing the transit of Kazakh oil via Azerbaijan and will conduct discussions with the interested parties in this regard, says the text of the Protocol, signed in Baku on Thursday following the eighth meeting of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan inter-governmental commission.
According to the contract with Tengizchevroil LLP, the operator of the consortium for Kazakh Tengiz field, the oil is transported through the railways of Azerbaijan to the terminal of KazMunaiGas JSC in Batumi and terminal of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) in Kulevi (Georgia).
The Protocol says over the first seven months of this year, about 1.83 million tons of Tengiz oil were transported to the Black Sea ports (Batumi Port - one million tons, Kulevi port - over 0.83 million tons).
According to the Protocol, the commission recommended the relevant structures of the parties to consider increasing the volume of Kazakh oil transit through the transport corridors of Azerbaijan. Accordingly, the Azerbaijani side is recommended to consider the issue of ensuring long-term transit of Kazakh oil and oil products through the country with trans-shipment via Azerbaijani terminals in the Caspian Sea with competitive conditions.
Previously, the Tengiz oil was also transported via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. However, because of the lack of agreement on transportation conditions, the transportation has been stopped since early last year.
BTC Co. shareholders include: BP (30.1 percent); AzBTC (25 percent); Chevron (8.90 percent); Statoil Hydro (8.71 percent); ТРАО (6.53 percent); Eni (5 percent); Total (5 percent); Itochu (3.40 percent); Inpex (2.50 percent); ConocoPhillips (2.50 percent) and Amerada Hess (2.36 percent).
The pipeline capacity is 1.2 million barrels of oil per day.