Novosti-Georgia reports with reference to a press release of the US company that according to the agreement, oil is to be shipped along the Baku-Batumi (Georgia) railway in the amount of ten million tons during five years.
Despite being a participant in the project to develop sea oil deposits Azeri-Chyrag-Guneshli, ExxonMobil at a time did not find it necessary to become a shareholder in BTC Co. that builds the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. For this reason, ExxonMobil is considering all possible options for exporting oil from Azerbaijan, including the northern (Russian) route of the Baku-Novorossiisk oil pipeline.
Oil pumping through the BTC pipeline will cost $3-odd per barrel on the average. But these tariffs will only be applicable to the companies that participated in constructing and financing the oil pipeline as shareholders of the BTC company. Other companies wishing to transport their oil through BTC will have to pay more.
Azpetrol Holding shipped over 15 million metric tons of oil and oil products via the South-Caucasus transport corridor when it began operating (2001). In 2003 alone, this company transported 4,045,656 metric tons of oil and oil products along the Baku-Batumi route.
