2000-02-07 Kazak Politics & MacroEconomics - Caspian Pipeline Consortium

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Caspian Pipeline Consortium

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) General Director, Victor Fedotov, visited Atyrau to observe the progress made on Kazakhstan’s section of a pipeline that will connect the Tengiz oil field with the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.

At present, work on the 1,580-km pipeline is on schedule—the Russian side has already laid 12.5% of the pipes and is currently constructing sea terminal facilities. Simultaneously, the modernisation of the old 452-km Tengiz-Astrakhan pipeline is underway. The initial diagnostics on the pipe have been completed and 300 km of fibre-optic lines have been prepared.

Fedotov told journalists that the linear part of the pipeline would be completed as scheduled by this December. The first loading of a Russian tanker with Kazakhstani crude oil is scheduled for 30 July 2001.

The completion of the initial stage of the project, which will boast a pipeline capacity of
28 million tonnes per year, is forecast for October 2001. (Khabar, Golden Eagle Partners)