BIG COST OVERRUNS ON KAZAKHSTAN-RUSSIA OIL PIPELINE PROJECT.

At a meeting just held in Almaty, Kazakh Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbaev and representatives of leading Western oil companies discussed ways to cope with massive cost overruns on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) export pipeline project. The pipeline would run from Kazakhstan’s giant Tengiz oilfield to Russia’s port Novorossiisk on the Black Sea. Construction costs, estimated until very recently at US$2.1 billion, have ballooned and are now projected at US$3.7 billion. The main Western companies involved in the project are Chevron, Mobil, Amoco, and Shell, along with state companies of Russia and Kazakhstan and some smaller companies. At least part of the overruns appear to stem from the attempts of Russian regions along the projected route to cash in on the benefits. (Russian agencies, July 15)–VS

SPECULATION OVER DATE OF KAZAKHSTANI PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.