Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. I.Khalilova / The preparations for signing a transport agreement between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on joint oil exportation through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline may be concluded by the end of 2007.
Andar Shukputov, the Kazakh Ambassador to Azerbaijan reported that the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Kazmunaygas national company of Kazakhstan are in talks regarding this.
Foreign companies which participate in the development of Kazakhstan's deposit Kashagan, are the investors of the project BTC. The oil production on Kashagan deposit is to begin in 2010.
The countries have already signed an international agreement.
The signing of the transport agreement will completely depend on exports agreement as the preparations to sign the first agreement have been ongoing for three years.
Presently, oil lifted from the biggest Azerbaijani fields Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli is exported through BTC pipeline.