Baku News

02.05.2006 Kazakhstan today - BAKU -  The agreement on the transportation of Kazakh oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan provides transportation of 25 million tonnes of Kazakh oil per annum, Abbas Abbasov, Vice Premier of Azerbaijan, told journalists, Kazakhstan Today correspondent reports. "The intergovernmental agreement between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan transportation of 25 million tonnes of Kazakh oil per annum via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is at the completing stage. The working groups need not more than 10 days for it, and the Agreement is going to be ready by mid-May so that it could be presented for inking by the Presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan." According to Mr. Abbasov, this intergovernmental agreement is very important for the economy of Azerbaijan and for the relationship between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. "This document confirms bilateral strategic positions between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Besides, the transit of Kazakhstani oil through the territory of Azerbaijan will provide us with additional financial incomes, which can guarantee the socioeconomic situation of our population," - Mr. Abbasov said. A regular meeting of the intergovernmental working group took place May 1. The length of BTC pipeline is 1,767 km, of which - 443 km are in Azerbaijan, in Georgia - 248 km, in Turkey - 1,076 km. The pipeline capacity is 50 million tons of oil per annum. The construction works started in April 2003. The talks between the SOCAR and "KazMunaiGaz" NC" JSC on Kazakhstan accession to the BTC started in November, 2002. The intergovernmental agreement between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan creates a new Aktau-Baku system for the transportation of Kazakhstani oil by the BTC pipeline. The capacity of the transferring system will be 20 million tons of oil per annum, up to 7.5 million tons will be transported during the first phase. The participants of BTC project are the following: BP (30.1 %); SOCAR (25.00 %); Unocal (8.90 %); Statoil (8.71 %); TPAO (6.53 %); ENI (5.00 %); Itochu (3.40 %); ConocoPhillips (2.50 %); INPEX (2.50 %), Total (5.00 %), and Amerada Hess (2.36 %). ENI, ConocoPhillips, Inpex, and Total also participate in Kashagan field development.