BAKU-AKTAU SYSTEM WILL BE MANAGED BY A SEPARATE COMPANY

A special company will be founded to manage the Aktau-Baku system. Four companies, main investors of Kazakhstanian Kashagan field and members of the BTC Co with 15 percent of shares - Eni, TotalFinaELf, ConocoPhilips and Inpex companies will be main investors of this company, director of KazMunayGas company Mairgeldi Kabildin reported.

Two-three more companies operating in Kazakhstan expressed their interest to joint the project of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, he said. According to him, investors of Aktau-Baku system will sign a transit agreement after the governments of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan sign an intergovernmental agreement.

For laying the Aktau-Baku system, it is foreseen to construct a terminal and a connecting pipeline in Kurikd, a port in 76 km to the southeast from Aktau. Twenty million tons of oil can be transported by means of this oil system, however the initial volumes of oil come to 7,5 million tons. The amount of investments will be determined after signing of the intergovernmental agreement. The new system will be ready till end-2006, when first oil is produced at Kashagan field in Kazakhstan.