The Trans-Caspian Oil Transport System is a proposed project to transport oil through the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

from

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

i Caspian oilfields to Baku in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

for the further transportation to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast. The main options under consideration are an offshore oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, and construction of oil terminals and

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

s fleet. A strong push for the project has been from the partners of the Kashagan oilfield project and in particular Total who has a share in both the field and the BTC pipeline. They have estimated that such a project would cost roughly US$4 billion. The project also faces opposition from Iran and Russia, both alternative avenues for Kazakhstan's oil and gas who would likely object to competing pipelines being built.

History

In 2005, the Government of Kazakhstan adopted plans for creation of a trans-Caspian westbound route for oil export. On 19 June 2006, President of Kazakhstan

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a framework agreement on the trans-Caspian oil transport system. On 24 January 2007, partners in Tengiz Chevroil (developer of

Tengiz field Tengiz field ( kk, Теңіз мұнай кен орны, ''Teñız mūnai ken orny''; Tengiz is Turkic for "sea") is an oil field located in northwestern Kazakhstan's low-lying wetlands along the northeast shores of the Caspian Sea. It covers ...

) and KCO (

Kashagan field Kashagan Field ( kk, Қашаған кен орны, ''Qashaǵan ken orny'') is an offshore oil field in Kazakhstan's zone of the Caspian Sea. The field, discovered in 2000, is located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea close to Atyrau and ...

developer) signed a memorandum of understanding to create a trans-Caspian oil transport system. On 2 October 2009, the national oil company of Kazakhstan Kazmunaygas and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic signed a memorandum of understanding to expand the Caspian Oil Transport System to include Azeri infrastructure and onshore pipelines from Baku to Kulevi oil terminal in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. On 6 October 2009, an agreement on the oil pipeline from Kashagan to Baku was signed by consortium of French companies during the French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Kazakhstan.

Oil pipeline

A long oil pipeline will run from

or Kuryk to Baku. Work for the pipeline is still in the feasibility stage according to an official from the oil company Total.

Shuttle tankers system

The shuttle tankers system envisages an usage of oil tankers to transport oil from Kuryk terminal in Kazakhstan to

Sangachal Terminal The Sangachal Terminal is an industrial complex consisting of a natural gas processing plant and oil production plant, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea south of Baku, Azerbaijan. History Construction of the terminal began in 1996 with t ...

in Azerbaijan. The capacity of this system would be in the initial stage, rising later up to .

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

The Globalization of Energy Resources: Tapping Caspian Oil and Gas
Lecture presented by Jonathan Elkind, Independent energy, environment and security consultant and former Director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs, National Security Council (1998-2001). October 19, 2006. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Oil pipelines in Kazakhstan Oil pipelines in Azerbaijan Caspian Sea Proposed pipelines in Asia Azerbaijan–Kazakhstan relations Submarine pipelines Proposed pipelines in Europe

History

Oil pipeline

Shuttle tankers system

See also

References

External links