Today.az cited President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan saying on 6 March that his country is considering building an oil refinery in Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi. This information was received by Today.az from the Kazakhstans official news agency Kazinform, which was covering Nazarbayev's press conference after his meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Astana. According to the news agencies, Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan's national oil company KazMunaiGaz was in the process of purchasing the control stake in the Batumi port. It is being considered as a possible transit point for transporting oil from Kazakhstan's Tengiz field to Europe.
At the same press conference, Mr. Saakashvili said that the construction of an oil refinery in Batumi "is a huge project worth about $1 billion. It's very important not only for Georgia's economy, but for the entire region."
Kazakhstan possesses the largest oil deposits in the Caspian Sea. Other states with stakes in the Caspian are Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. It produces about 1.3 million barrels a day. By 2015, its daily oil output is expected to reach 2.6 million barrels. Currently, the Kazakh government is seeking to increase its energy sector revenues by developing its own oil refining industry.
This information was originally published March 6, 2007 (www.today.az). -- 03/15/2007