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Russia blocking expansion of Kazakh oil pipeline: report
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 14 11 06
Russia is blocking expansion of an oil pipeline headed by US company Chevron that runs from Kazakhstan through Russian territory to the Black Sea, the Kommersant newspaper said Monday.
Moscow is refusing to allow expansion of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium except on unfavourable terms for the consortium and has otherwise threatened that the pipeline be taken into state ownership or declared bankrupt, the broadsheet said.
"On Friday the head of the Russian ministry for industry and energy, Viktor Khristenko, sent a letter" to senior Chevron executive Guy Hollingsworth "in which he rejected all compromises and made it known that Russia as a shareholder would stick to the strictest position," Kommersant said.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the main export route for oil from Kazakhstan's massive Tengiz field, a joint venture between Chevron and the Kazakh state.
The pipeline's private shareholders, headed by Chevron, had proposed a 9.1-percent increase in tariffs paid by the consortium to Russia as part of a deal aimed at securing Russian approval for the pipeline's long-awaited expansion, the newspaper said.
The company wants to expand the pipeline's capacity from over 30 million tonnes annually at present to 67 million tonnes, but the expansion has been slow to occur, the pipeline being an exception to the Russian state's policy of controlling all pipeline exports from its territory.
Kommersant said Russian officials wanted to secure a 38 percent-increase in the tariffs paid by the pipeline consortium and had said they did not rule out the pipeline being declared bankrupt.
The pipeline's largest shareholder is the Russian state, with 24 percent, followed by the Kazakh state (19 percent), Chevron (15 percent) and smaller shareholders.
AFP 13 1754 GMT 11 06
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