Astana Reaches Agreement with Baku on Extra Trans Caspian Oil Shipments

    Planning to double its oil output over the next decade, Kazakhstan agreed with Azerbaijan on Friday on the delivery of extra crude to the Black Sea and beyond.
    Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas and Azeri state oil firm SOCAR signed three accords to cooperate on delivering extra Kazakh oil fr om the giant Kashagan field via Azeri infrastructure from 2012, under the Transcaspian project.
    The accords, signed during a visit to Baku by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, envisage shipments of Kazakh crude from Baku by rail to Georgia's Black Sea ports of Batumi and Kulevi, as well as through the existing Baku-Supsa pipeline.
    Kazakhstan already ships some of its output by tankers across the Caspian Sea to Baku, wh ere it is fed into the Baku-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa pipelines.
    Members of the Kashagan project, Eni, ConocoPhillips, Inpex and Total, have already expressed their interest in the Transcaspian project, according to Reuters.