Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 26
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
Georgia hopes for an increase in transit oil and gas supplies, said Liana Jervalidze, analyst of the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation.
She was addressing ‘The 2nd SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum – Trading, Logistics, Refining, Petrochemicals’ in Baku Apr. 26.
Jervalidze reminded that transit oil and gas supplies are significant income sources for Georgia.
“At present, gas and oil pipelines running through Georgia are filled by slightly more than half of their capacities,” said the analyst. “Transit of oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in 2016 was 28.8 million tons, while the pipeline’s capacity is 50 million tons.”
“Transit of oil via the Baku-Supsa pipeline in 2016 amounted to 2.383 million tons, whereas the capacity of the pipeline is 7.5 million tons. Gas transit via the South Caucasus Pipeline was 6.23 billion cubic meters in 2016, given that the pipeline capacity is 6.6 billion cubic meters.”
Transit of oil by rail through Georgia decreased to 5.494 million tons in 2016, as compared to 6.748 million tons in 2015, according to Jervalidze.
“As a result, the terminal of the Kulevi port on Georgia's Black Sea coast remains not fully loaded.”
The analyst said Georgia hopes that the supply of oil and gas from Central Asian countries will help solve this problem.
“Georgia as well as potential importers in Europe are interested in such supplies. In particular, Ukraine expresses interest in hydrocarbon supplies from Central Asia through the territory of Georgia, to reduce dependence on supplies from Russia,” added Jervalidze.