SOCAR to open Kulevi oil terminal in Georgia on May 16, 2008

Official opening of Kulevi oil terminal in Georgia will be held on My 16, 2008, the president of SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev, announced April 25 according to APA referring to Interpressnews. Kulevi terminal is able to accept 160 tank wagons. Total volume of its tank farm makes 320,000 cubic meters. The port is capable of handling tankers of up to 100,000 tonnes in displacement. At initial stage the terminal will be able to accept 10 million tonnes of oil per year. Within two years its capacity is to be raised to 15-20 million tonnes with the capacity of its tank farm to be raised to 380,000 cubic meters. The construction of the terminal was started in 2000 by Georgian railway and Austrian company Argomar Oil. However, the construction was terminated in 2002 due to insufficient financing. In September 2004, an international consortium was established to resume the project. Besides the initiators it included a number of Georgian and foreign businessmen. In early 2007 Azerbaijan purchased the terminal.