(SRI) - ING will advise KazMunaiGas (KMG) on the Kazakhstan Caspian Transportation System (KCTS), an oil transportation project between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, according to industry sources.
The Netherlands-based bank will advise the Kazakh state-owned KMG on the project and negotiate with its Azeri counterpart, SOCAR.
The KCTS aims to provide a much needed alternative link for Kazakh oil to world markets, once the supergiant Kashagan oil field comes online in 2012-13.
The proposed project will consist of a 700-kilometer pipeline from Eskene to the Caspian port of Kuryk, a maritime barge link to Baku, and a transfer station where the crude will be put into an expanded BTC pipeline to Turkey. Under the current plans, KMG will hold 51 percent of the pipeline, while international oil companies developing the Kashagan oil field will hold 49 percent. The maritime link will be held by a joint venture equally owned by KMG and SOCAR.
