ASTANA, Kazakhstan, March 3 (UPI) -- Kazakhstan needs new oil transit routes to handle the expected increase in production from the giant offshore Kashagan field, the Kazak president said.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during talks with his Romanian counterpart, Traian Basescu, that Kazakh oil could move through a new pipeline though Azerbaijan and Georgia. Romania could then carry the oil by tankers across the Black Sea.
Astana needs additional transit options to handle increased oil production from the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea, which starts up in 2012, the Financial Times reports.
Kazakh oil stopped moving through Georgian terminals on the Black Sea during the August 2008 conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow. In February, meanwhile, executives at Tengizshevroil, the Chevron division in Kazakhstan, said an increase in oil tariffs by Baku was a reason to halt exports through a key oil pipeline.
The new route would give Astana the opportunity to expand its transit options beyond Russian pipelines.
Kazakhstan in 2009 produced 1.5 million barrels of day. That should double when the Kashagan field enters production.
