OREANDA-NEWS. June 28, 2007.  In the city of Baku the meeting was held participated by the representatives of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) headed by President of the company R.N. Abdullayev with the delegation of the National Company “KazMunayGas”, headed by President of the company U.S. Karabalin, and the representatives of the contracting companies under the Production Sharing Agreement on the North-Caspian, and the Tengiz Group.

In the course of the meeting, the parties discussed the issues of the implelmentation of the Trans-Caspian Project as part of the Agreement on Assistance and Support of Oil Transportation from the Republic of Kazakhstan across the Caspian Sea and the territory of the Azerbaijani Republic to the International Markets through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan system (signed in June, 2006 by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev and the President of the Azerbaijani Republic I.Aliyev).  

The parties exchanged opinions on the issues of creating the Trans-Caspian system and made a decision to speed up negotiations in the context of the work group with participation of the representatives of the Kazakh oil shippers and the Azerbaijani party.
The Trans-Caspian system will include oil-discharge terminals on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian Sea, tankers and ships, oil-loading terminals on the Azerbaijani coast of the Caspian Sea and jointing facilities up to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan system.

 The Trans-Caspian system is a part of the projected Kazakhstan-Caspian Transportation System (KCTS).

The KCTS is planned to provide transportation at the initial stage at the rate of 500 kbbl./day (23 mln. tons annually) with a further increase up to 750-1200 kbbl./day (35-56 mln. tons annually).