NEW PIPELINE EXPORT ROUTES COULD APPEAR IN KAZAKHSTAN BY 2010

According to the government blueprint for the development of the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, by the year 2010 Kazakhstan could have new pipeline export route. In the opinion of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, it looks likely that it could be the Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

That apart, by 2015 there would be the need to create new export routes and its realization is already being discussed. In the view of the minister, the most probable direction as at today seems to be to China and Iran.

However, Mr Shkolnik noted that in creating a route to China, Kazakhstan should first have huge oil stocks that could sustain that pipeline's carrying capacity of 50 million tonnes per year. That apart the issue of how competitive Kazakh oil will be on the Chinese market is being studied due to the long transportation distance and of course increased cost. All these issues today are being studied by the national company KazMunaiGas, concluded the Minister.