Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline Astana, Kazakhstan, March 14, SPA -- U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman Tuesday urged oil-rich Kazakhstan to speed up talks on joining a U.S.-backed oil pipeline that starts in Azerbaijan, AP reported, Bodman said he and senior Kazakh officials had discussed "the desire of the United States to see negotiations concluded between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to transport Kazakh oil through the BTC pipeline." The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which opened last May, allows the West to tap oil from the rich Caspian Sea fields, estimated to hold the world's third-largest reserves, bypassing Russia and Iran. The Caspian is shared by Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has said it could ship up to 30 million metric tons of oil (8.8 billion gallons) yearly through the 1,100-mile pipeline that runs from the Azerbaijani port capital of Baku, via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, but no deal has been signed yet. "Kazakhstan has a critical role to play in advancing global energy security," Bodman said Tuesday in the Kazakh capital Astana. "I encouraged Kazakhstan to take a leading role in the region to promote expanded energy infrastructure development and additional energy transit routes," he said. In December, Kazakhstan completed the construction together with China of another alternative export pipeline that links Kazakh oil fields with western China. Kazakhstan possesses the largest oil deposits in the Caspian Sea. It currently produces about 1.3 million barrels a day. By 2015, its daily oil output is expected to reach 3 million barrels. Bodman said also said Tuesday that U.S. investment in Kazakhstan, which currently amounts to about US$10 billion (¤8.3 billion), was expected to double in the next five years. 14 39 Local Time 11 39 GMT
