ECONOMY
KAZAKHSTAN AND AZERBAIJAN SEAL AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION IN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
The agreement states that both parties intend to continue mutually beneficial cooperation in the oil and gas industry. The document includes relevant agreements on transportation and transit of Kazakh oil, oil refining and petrochemistry as well as joint usage of SOCAR’s oil and gas infrastructure.
The memorandum is another step towards realization of the Transcaspian project. Basic terms of the project were determined by the agreement on promoting and supporting the transportation of oil from Kazakhstan via the Caspian and Azerbaijan to the international markets through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan system. It was signed by Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan in June 2006.
In accordance with this document, the parties are set to implement the Transcaspian project. The Transcaspian system is the part of the Kazakh Caspian system of transportation (KCST). KCST is scheduled to transport 23 million tons of oil initially, and then, increase oil transportation up to 35-36 million tons.