Mohammed Souri, Chair and Managing Director of the National Iranian Tanker Company, and Jan Bonde Nielsen, Chair of Greenoak Holdings Ltd., who represent the co-owners of Caspian Maritime Ltd., took part in the meeting.
The floating pipeline project provides for the shipment of Russian crude oil by large-capacity vessels from Daghestan's Makhachkala to the Iranian port of Neka, from where it will go on to refineries in northern Iran. The Russian supply is to be paid for with crude recovered from deposits in southern Iran.
Messrs. Souri and Nielsen noted that vessels with a capacity of 6,000 tons would not be able to handle the annual oil shipment of 18 million tons, and proposed opting instead for an offshore loading and unloading scheme, used extensively in northern seas.
The plan envisages the construction of special loading facilities in the sea, ones that would meet depth requirements for big vessels and be linked with oil tanks in the coastal zone, as well as six barges of 63,000 tons displacement and towboats. Specialists say that the project will reduce environmental damage and cut the transportation cost by half.
According to Messrs. Souri and Nielsen, Makhachkala's international trade port has been chosen as the site for the construction of an offshore loading system because it has all it takes to become an oil outlet.
Mr. Magomedov approved the project and said he was willing to assist with its implementation in every possible way.
This and other similar projects are expected to give a boost to the national economy and the economy of Daghestan, as well as to replenish the republic's treasury coffers and to create more jobs, Mr. Magomedov pointed out.
