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U.S. energy secretary urges Kazakhstan to speed up joining
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 14 - 03 - 2006


Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
Astana, Kazakhstan, March 14, SPA -- U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel
W. Bodman Tuesday urged oil-rich Kazakhstan to speed up
talks on joining a U.S.-backed oil pipeline that starts in
Azerbaijan, AP reported,
Bodman said he and senior Kazakh officials had discussed
"the desire of the United States to see negotiations
concluded between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to transport
Kazakh oil through the BTC pipeline."
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which opened last May,
allows the West to tap oil from the rich Caspian Sea
fields, estimated to hold the world's third-largest
reserves, bypassing Russia and Iran.
The Caspian is shared by Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan has said it could ship up to 30 million metric
tons of oil (8.8 billion gallons) yearly through the
1,100-mile pipeline that runs from the Azerbaijani port
capital of Baku, via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean
port of Ceyhan, but no deal has been signed yet.
"Kazakhstan has a critical role to play in advancing
global energy security," Bodman said Tuesday in the Kazakh
capital Astana.
"I encouraged Kazakhstan to take a leading role in the
region to promote expanded energy infrastructure
development and additional energy transit routes," he
said.
In December, Kazakhstan completed the construction
together with China of another alternative export pipeline
that links Kazakh oil fields with western China.
Kazakhstan possesses the largest oil deposits in the
Caspian Sea. It currently produces about 1.3 million
barrels a day. By 2015, its daily oil output is expected to
reach 3 million barrels.
Bodman said also said Tuesday that U.S. investment in
Kazakhstan, which currently amounts to about US$10 billion
(¤8.3 billion), was expected to double in the next five
years.
14 39 Local Time
11 39 GMT


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