Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.22 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
From mid-2012 an increase is expected in the transportation of tKazakh oil from the Tengiz field through Azerbaijani territory, a source at the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) told Trend on Thursday.
Kazakh oil is transported through the Black Sea coast of Georgia where it is delivered via Azerbaijan's territory. Oil from Kazakhstan is supplied via tankers to Azerbaijani coast of the Caspian Sea and then carried by railway to Georgia.
"Since June 2012 the volume of the Kazakh oil transportation through the corridor is expected to increase," the source said.
He said in particular a growth in oil transportation from Kazakhstan is expected through SOCAR's Kulevi oil terminal. As a source said earlier, at present the terminal ships 80,000 tons of Tengiz oil monthly using tankers.
The volume of oil cargo transhipment through the Kulevi terminal will be 3.5-3.6 million tons as of 2011, the source said.
The terminal was put into operation in summer 2008. Its total capacity is 10 million tons of oil per year, including three million tons of oil, three million tons of diesel fuel and four million tons of fuel oil.
The terminal can accommodate up to 168 tank cars. The tank farm's total volume is 320,000 cubic metres with the possibility of increasing to 380,000 cubic metres. The port has two berths to load petroleum products in tankers of up to 100,000 tons.
Loading productivity ranges from 1000 to 8000 cubic metres per hour. The railway station which can simultaneously accommodate up to 180 trucks awaiting discharge of cargo, serves the port. The railway trestle can simultaneously unload 168 carriages.