MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--Georgia's largest oil port, Batumi, on the Black Sea coast is continuing to operate, despite the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.
"The terminal is influenced by the situation, but keeps discharging every day," the person said.
The person said Batumi, the largest oil terminal in Georgia, has an overall throughput capacity of 15 million metric tons a year, or around 300,000 barrels a day, and that the terminal is currently handling less than half that.
Friday, Russia and Georgia entered into an open conflict over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, sparking concerns it could threaten the alternative routes BP PLC (BP) had started to use to replace the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which was interrupted last week due to a fire.
Batumi last year shipped 190,000 barrels of crude a day from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The crude is shipped to the port by rail.
Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov Monday ordered Kazakh oil exports through Batumi to be stopped and said the oil should be redirected to the local market because of the conflict between Russia and Georgia.