Azernews.Az

BAKU – The trans-Caspian oil transport system that envisions exporting Kazakhstan’s crude to Europe through Azerbaijan’s territory will be put into operation in late 2012 or early 2013, the Central Asian country’s ambassador in Baku said Monday.

Serik Primbetov told the press that launching the system will be possible after tapping Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan field begins.

Primbetov said work was underway to create the Trans-Caspian Oil Transport System (TCOTS). He noted that Kazakhstan’s state oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR have established a joint venture for the purpose.

"They are holding discussions and selecting a company to prepare the feasibility study," Primbetov added.

The tender under the TCOTS project was opened in June and is nearing completion.

The TCOTS is a proposed project to transport oil through the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan’s offshore oilfields to Baku for its further transportation to the Mediterranean or Black Sea coasts. The main options under consideration are an offshore oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, and construction of oil terminals and oil tankers fleet. A strong push for the project has been from the partners of the Kashagan project and in particular Total who has a share in both the field and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which transports Azerbaijan’s crude to world markets through Georgia and Turkey. They have estimated that such a project would cost roughly $4 billion. 23-27 million tons of oil per year are to be exported through the trans-Caspian system at the initial stage.

The project faces opposition from Iran and Russia, both alternative avenues for Kazakhstan's oil and gas who would likely object to competing pipelines being built.