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June 2006

Vol. 11, No. 24 Week of June 11, 2006

First Caspian oil loaded

Authorities at a Turkish Mediterranean oil port loaded the first shipment of Caspian Sea oil June 2 from a newly built pipeline onto a tanker for Western markets.

The shipment from Ceyhan, a Turkish port on the Mediterranean Sea, marks a crucial step in completing a project designed to create alternative oil routes to ease the West’s dependence on Middle East crude. The pipeline starts in Baku, Azerbaijan, runs through Tbilisi, Georgia, and then travels southwest through Turkey to Ceyhan.

Although it included oil from the Caspian pipeline, the bulk of the shipment was already stored at Ceyhan after having been brought in by tanker to test new storage tanks at the site several months ago, oil officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The loading of some 600,000 barrels of crude onto The British Hawtharne began at 4:17 p.m. and was expected to take at least 12 hours. The shipment was destined for the northwestern Italian port of Savona, officials said.

Line recently completed

The recently completed 1,100-mile pipeline, conceived in the mid-1990s and launched in 2002, is intended to tie the oil-rich newly independent former Soviet nations to the West and reduce the influence of Russia and Iran. U.S. officials insisted that the pipeline be built through Turkey, bypassing the Middle East and Russia. The project cost some $4 billion.

The Caspian Sea fields are estimated to hold the world’s third-largest reserves, bypassing Russia and Iran.

Ceyhan is also the end point of a pipeline running from neighboring Iraq, and Turkey built a new terminal and storage tanks to ship Azeri oil.

At Ceyhan, the new oil terminal is expected to begin pumping 1 million barrels of crude per day when fully operational.

The June 2 shipment is largely considered a technical exercise. A formal launching ceremony to be attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is scheduled for July 13.

The Caspian’s reserves are shared by Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

However, hopes that Caspian oil could be an alternative source to Middle Eastern oil have so far proven unrealistic. Analysts say the Middle East still provides 50 percent of global oil supplies.

—The Associated Press





Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistrubuted.

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