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Kazakhstan set to open pipeline to China
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-15 07:05
The launch of the Chinese pipeline comes months after the opening of another
alternative export route for Kazakh oil åK½ï¿½ the 1,100-mile pipeline that runs from
the Azerbaijani port capital of Baku, via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean
port of Ceyhan.
The oil pipeline linking China and
Kazakhstan. [Xinhua] |
Earlier this year, China National Petroleum Corp. bought Kazakhstan's
third-biggest oil producer, Canada-based PetroKazakhstan, whose energy assets
are all in Kazakhstan and include one of the country's three oil refineries.
China also signed gas exploration contracts in Uzbekistan, and it is expected
to sign a major natural gas supply deal with Turkmenistan in January.
The Kazakh-Chinese pipeline will initially carry oil from the Kumkol field in
central Kazakhstan, which used to be operated by PetroKazakhstan. By 2011, when
it reaches full capacity, the pipeline is expected to be used to ship oil from
Russia's western Siberia.
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