No Cheap Transit for Kazakh Oil

Ukraine's Ministry of Transport, as requested by the government of Kazakhstan, has calculated of the cost of transporting Kazakh oil across Ukraine by a mixed railway-highway-and-sea route, including the Black Sea ports of Georgia and Ukraine, reports Infobank.

Currently Kazakh oil is being transported to Ukraine's Aivazivka and Odesa- Peresyp terminals exclusively by railway across Russian territory, the cost of transportation varying from $29.40 to $33.95 per ton of oil in the former case and from $30.70 to $35.25 in the latter.

Under the two new options, total expenses for the transit of Kazakh oil seem to be slightly higher, especially, if oil is to be ferried across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and then taken by railway across Georgia to the port of Poti, then again ferried to Illichevsk, Ukraine. Then the cost will come to $41.56 - 42.62 per ton, and it would be $50.26 - 51.32 per ton if Kazakh oil is taken from the Georgian port of Batumi to Odesa, Ukraine, by tanker.