At its initial stage, new trans-Caspian transport system will ensure the annual transportation of 5mln ton of Kazakh oil to world markets via Azerbaijan with further increases to 38mln ton, officials of national company Kazmunaygaz told trends special correspondent.
The company representatives said trans-Caspian transportations suggest using tankers up to 63k ton of deadweight. In turn, arrangement of transportation in large tankers from port of Kuryk leads to creation of a brand new transport system, where trans-shipping capacities (capacity of tanks, rating of feed/discharge pumps, use of SPMs) will be maximally adapted for uninterrupted operation of transport line.
On June 16, 2006 Presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on В"assistance and support to oil transportation from Republic of Kazakhstan via Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan Republic to international market using BTC pipelineВ". The agreement aims at the creation of conditions for transportation to increase the amount of Kazakh oil to the Mediterranean Sea using Kuryk-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route.
Kazmunaygaz representative said the next step in the trans-Caspian system creation were agreements between Kazakh and Azerbaijani governments and investors aimed at defining and setting the rules, rights and obligations for their participants in respect to the execution of the trans-Caspian project.