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Romanian company touts Batumi–Constants oil connection

By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Thursday, February 14
At a Baku energy conference last week Dinu Patriciu, director general of Romanian oil company Rompetrol, talked up the importance of the Black Sea transport connection between the ports of Batumi in Georgia and Constants in Romania.

“Today we can speak about the realization of joint projects. It may be tanker transportations via Batumi and Constants or construction of a pipeline via or nearby Black Sea,” Patriciu said.

The director general added that a major benefit of the connection is that the two ports are owned by the same company, KazMunayGaz.

KazMunayGaz, the Kazakhstani company which acquired a 75 percent stake in Rompetrol last year, has been developing the oil terminal at Batumi and hopes to increase oil transit to Constants.

The terminal has a planned annual output of 14 million tons, 5 million tons of which will be processed by Rompetrol with the rest going on to Europe, according to the newspaper 24 Saati.