Russia may join Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline project

It is possible that Russia will join the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline project. At least, this issue will be discussed during Azerbaijani President Geidar Aliyev's visit to Moscow, which starts today, an informed source in Moscow told RIA Novosti.

The Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline is designed to transport Caspian oil via Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. The agreement on the construction of the pipeline was signed in November, 1999 in Istanbul by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and the then-President of the USA Bill Clinton and later joined by Kazakhstan, who agreed to transmit large quantities of Kazakh oil through the pipeline.

The Russian company that wants to join the project is LUKOIL, according to RIA Novosti's source. Earlier, the company's President Vagit Alekperov said that LUKOIL was contemplating this possibility.