Caspian pipeline combine awards construction contract

This paper reports that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has let contract to Overseas Bechtel Inc. for a 500 mile crude oil export pipeline in Russia. Bechtel will provide engineering, procurement, financing, and construction services and serve as project manager for the 42 inc. line that will extend west from Grozny, near the Caspian Sea, to Novorossiisk, on the Black Sea. Estimated cost is more than $850 million. At Grozny, the new line will tie into 800 miles of existing pipeline that runs along the north shore of the Caspian Sea from supergiant Tengiz field in Kazakhstan. Together, the two segments will form a 1,300 mile system capable of shipping crude oil from the Tengiz region and from Baku, Azerbaijan, to a new terminal and port facilities at Novorossiisk for shipment to world markets, ultimately reaching open oceans via the Mediterranean Sea