The Messenger, Georgia
March 27 2007

South Caucasus refinery boom
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)

A second oil terminal is to
be built in Batumi

An oil refinery boom has begun in the South Caucasus. Most of the
refineries will be constructed in Georgia and Armenia – places that
currently do not have a significant amount of their own oil.

Two oil refineries will be built in Georgia. One will be constructed
in Kulevi by SOCAR, the state oil company of Azerbaijan, with a
capacity of processing 5-10 million tons of oil annually. The Kulevi
oil terminal should open soon and as early as this year it is
expected to process as much as 10 million barrels of oil.

A second refinery will be built in Batumi and it will refine crude
oil exported from Kazakhstan. President of KazMunayGaz Uzakbai
Karabalin and the Chairman of Batumi Oil Terminal Jan Bonde Nielsen
signed an agreement on building joint owned oil refineries. The
refinery’s capacity will be 5-7 million tons annually.

A similar facility will be built in Armenia to process Iranian oil.
Its potential capacity could reach seven million tons a year. A
minimum of USD 1.7 billion will be spent on its construction. An
additional USD 1 billion will be spent for the necessary transport
infrastructure.

According to the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vardan
Oskanian, creation of the oil refineries and implementation of a
railway project between Iran and Armenia will help strengthen the
energy security of the country, reports the newspaper Rezonansi.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress