Kazakh state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas said Friday it has signed an agreement with Azerbaijan's state oil company on the main terms of shipping Kazakh crude oil to international markets via Azerbaijan.
KazMunaiGas, or KMG, said the agreement signed with SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company, outlines main terms and principles of the Trans-Caspian project, including an agreement on establishing a joint project company, funding, tariffs and further development steps of the Trans-Caspian system.
KMG said a successful implementation of the transportation project would ensure a reliable shipment of Kazakh crude oil to Azerbaijan across the Caspian Sea onboard tankers and to international markets through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Initial shipment capacity of the Trans-Caspian system will stand at 500,000 barrels a day and will eventually rise to 750,000-1,200,000 barrels a day, KMG said, without specifying when the transportation system will be launched.
BP PLC (BP) said earlier this month it had started shipping crude oil from Kazakhstan's giant Tengiz oil field.
Kazakhstan relies on Azerbaijan as a key export route for its ambitions to boost its oil production to 2 million barrels a day by 2015 from the current daily output of 1.3 million barrels.