Kulevi Oil Terminal

The Kulevi Oil Terminal is an oil port in Kulevi, Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast. Its annual capacity is 10 million tons of crude oil and refined products. [cite web
publisher= Reuters
title = Socar to wait on Georgia for Black Sea shipments
url= http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKL1273096820071112
date = 2007-11-12
accessdate=2008-10-11] .

Kulevi Oil Terminal incorporates three piers, a canal for tankers, a mobile service fleet of 9 vessels, and a world-class laboratory for oil and refined products testing [cite web
publisher= Trend Capital
title = Rescue Operations Cause Accident in Georgia’s Kulevi Port
url= http://capital.trendaz.com/?show=news&newsid=1310430&catid=519&subcatid=481&lang=EN
date = 2008-10-03
accessdate=2008-10-11] . The terminal is able to receive up to 168 tank cars at the same time, through four railway branches.

Construction and operation

The Kulevi Oil Terminal project was originally authorised by president Shevardnadze's decree on 8 September, 1999 [Gachechiladze M. [http://jpe.library.arizona.edu/volume_14/Gachechiladze.pdf Towards a Political Ecology of Oil in Post-communist Georgia: the conflict over the Kulevi Oil Port Development] , Journal of Political Ecology,2007] . Subsequently, the construction began near the village of Kulevi in 2000 by Terminal 2000 Ltd, a partnership created between Argomar Oil Ltd and Georgian Railway [http://www.imcg.net/imcgnl/nl0601/nl0601_4.htm The Golden Fleece in trouble - the endangering of the Kolkheti peatlands (Georgia)] ] . In late 2002 though, the project was put on hold, due to environmental concerns and insufficient funds [cite web
publisher= CEE Bankwatch Network
title = Kulevi Oil Terminal, Georgia
url= http://www.bankwatch.org/project.shtml?w=147580&s=192682
accessdate=2008-10-11] . Construction resumed in September 2004 under an international consortium of investors lead by a Georgian business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. Two years later Badri Patarkatsishvili sold his stake in Kulevi Terminal, then still under construction, to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) for an undisclosed sum of money [cite web
publisher= Georgian Daily
title = Oil-handling Capacities Growing and Available on Georgia's Black Sea Coast
url= http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=132
date = 2008-02-13
accessdate=2008-10-11] .

The terminal was complete by November 2007 and was officially opened on May 16, 2008 [cite web
publisher= Trend Capital
title = Opening of New Kulevi Oil Terminal to Promote Azerbaijan, Georgia’s Development
url= http://capital.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1201136&catid=519&subcatid=481&lang=EN
date = 2008-05-16
accessdate=2008-10-11] . SOCAR plans to increase the capacity of the terminal up to 20 million tons annually. That would make Kulevi the largest oil terminal in South Caucasus [cite web
publisher= PortNews
title = Georgia's Kulevi opens a new oil terminal
url= http://en.portnews.ru/news/10559/
date = 2008-05-19
accessdate=2008-10-11] .

ee also

* Poti Sea Port
* List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance

References