Oil & gas news

LUKOIL, CHEVRON TO SIGN AGREEMENT ON LUBRICATION DASH SUPPLIES

Russian LUKoil and Chevron Oronite Company LLC signed a general agreement of dash supplies for lubrication oils. LUKoil vice-president Vladislav Bajenov has said that LUKoil operates two dash producing enterprises in Volgograd and Kstovo, which enable the company to maintain high quality production and profitable lubrication oils. The supplies deal is the first stage of cooperation with Chevron, as the second stage belongs in establishing a joint venture, he said.

LUKoil's share in the domestic supplies of lubrication oils make up 50%. On top of this, the Russian giant and Chevron/Texaco are partners and major shareholders in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. This is a 1580km long pipeline from the Tenghiz field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The first stage of the project is estimated at $2.6 billion, with the initial through-put capacity of the conduit being 28 million tons of crude a year (600,000 barrels a day), the LUKoil Azerbaijan said in a statement Friday.

2.3 MLN TONS OF OIL DISPATCHED VIA NORTHERN PIPELINE

While in Baku, Russian vice-premier Viktor Khristenko focused on cooperation in the oil sector, as the parties centered on signing of a new or prolongation of the already existing intergovernmental agreement on the transit of Azeri oil. The deal was inked in 1996 and is effective until 2002.

Under the agreement, Azerbaijan is to pump 2.5 million tons of oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline in 2001, with 2.3 tons already exported in 10 months this year. The annual export volume is expected to rise to 5 million next year.

OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLAN BEING DEVELOPED

A workshop, "National preparation for oil spill response plans and cooperation", got underway at the conference hall of the ISR Plaza hotel of Baku Monday. The workshop held by the Azerbaijan government as part of cooperation with the UN International Navigation Organization aims to pinpoint the targets and undertakings for oil spill response plans in Azerbaijan with all the parties concerned.

Attending the workshop are government officials and industrialists. The sponsors of the event are bp, the EBRD and the UNDP.

TURKISH, AZERI ENTREPRENEURS SIGN PROTOCOL

Chairman of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurial Organizations of Azerbaijan Alakbar Mammadov held a news conference dedicated to the outcomes of the international conference, "Strengthening effective social dialogue and cooperation", in Turkey. The conference aimed to study the experience of developed nations in entrepreneurship.

The Azeri and Turkish entrepreneurial confederations signed a protocol, whereby the Turkish body undertakes to represent the Azerbaijan Confederation in international entities, he said.

According to Mr. Mammadov, the Confederation had been elected as coordinator of the UN Economic Commission in Azerbaijan.