Russian official strongly opposes Kazakh oil delivery via Caspian

Oleg Mitvol, deputy chief of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, told reporters that small-capacity, single-hulled tankers commonly in use on the sea were more likely to leak or spill crude oil, the Associated Press reports.

Western countries have pushed Kazakhstan to increase its oil exports via the U.S.-backed pipeline that runs from Azerbaijan via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Mitvol said increased shipments in the older ships would put the sea at greater risk.

"Oil deliveries by single-hull tankers pose a real threat to this unique ecological region," he said at a news conference. "Why should they worry about single-hulled oil tankers on, say, the Mediterranean Sea, but not on the Caspian Sea? Why is the Caspian not worthy of such protection?"

Kazakhstan, which possesses the largest oil deposits in the Caspian Sea, currently exports most of its oil via Russia, but has been seeking to establish alternative routes. Last month, it signed up to pump its oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

Talks to build an extension of the pipeline under the Caspian, however, are in their infancy, and in the meantime, Kazakhstan's tiny fleet of aging Soviet-era tankers is expected to increase crude shipments to Azerbaijani oil terminals.

Russia strongly opposed the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and instead pressed or Caspian oil to continue going through its network of pipelines to the Black Sea.

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