Kazakhstan: Astana Wants Controlling Stake in Baku-Ceyhan Related Project

Kazakhstan is insisting on a controlling stake in a venture designed to funnel oil into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, according to the country's minister of energy, Sauat Mynbayev.

The proposed Kazakh Caspian Transportation System (KCTS) has had trouble getting export operations started due to a dispute over ownership structure. Kazakhstani authorities and international backers of the project, including the energy firms Agip and Chevron, remain divided over the size of Astana's stake, according to a March 11 report in the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

KCTS envisions a pipeline stretching from Eskene to Kuryk, where a new port will be built to accommodate a fleet of supertankers capable of carrying up to 1.8 million barrels of oil a day across the Caspian to Baku, Azerbaijan.

"For sure, we will not be involved in the project for less than 51 percent, either formally or informally. We are negotiating intensively," Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted Mynbayev as saying. "The main point is control over the pipeline. We have no plans to cede control over it."