UPDATE 1-Russia clears plan to boost Kazakh oil transit
MOSCOW, May 7 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it had lifted its opposition to a plan to double the capacity of a Kazakh transit oil pipeline in a move to allow Chevron (CVX.N) and other energy majors to boost exports via its territory.
The Russian energy ministry said in a statement its minister Viktor Khristenko and his Kazakh counterpart Sauat Mynbayev had reached an agreement at a meeting in Astana.
"A joint position has been agreed on the issue of the CPC (Caspian Pipeline Consortuim) expansion, which should take place before 2012 in two stages," the statement said.
The link's capacity, which runs from Kazakhstan's biggest fields to Russia's Black Sea coast, would double to 67 million tonnes from the current 32 million a year.
Kazakhstan in turn agreed to help fill the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, a trans-Balkan pipeline to take Russian and Central Asian oil from Bulgaria to Greece, sending up to 17 million tonnes of CPC crude to Alexanroupolis.
In December, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Russia will allow CPC to double capacity after years of opposition, but Moscow has never confirmed his statement.
Moscow has criticised the project for low returns and said its expansion will add pressure on the congested Turkish Straits as oil is exported mainly to the Mediterranean.
Russia, Kazakhstan and Oman own stakes in CPC, while private shareholders are led by U.S. Chevron (CVX.N) with 15 percent and include BP Plc (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), ExxonMobil (XOM.N), LUKOIL (LKOH.MM), Rosneft (ROSN.MM).
Russia has a 24 percent stake in the consortium as a host state. Private shareholders have said they would be forced to look for alternative export routes if they fail to expand CPC, as otherwise they can't grow production in Kazakhstan. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by James Jukwey)
