AZERBAIJAN - May 19 - Baku-Ceyhan P/L Engineering Study To Be Launched.

The President of the state oil company SOCAR Natik Aliyev says the BP-led pipeline partners need the engineering study to line up outside investment for the $2.7 bn line from Baku to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. He says: "It is very important for us to finish the study to be able to submit all the documents to international financial institutions for approval and form a scheme of financing for the pipeline". (Last week, the eight-member consortium said it was hopeful after presenting initial estimates for the cost of building the 1,737-km line to potential investors. BP said in a statement: "There are signs that on the basis of cost calculations the project will be able to attract a sufficient level of financing"). Aliyev says the consortium is in talks with Chevron, TotalFinaElf and Alberta Energy on their joining the project sponsorship before end-2001 and their decision depends on the findings of the engineering study. BP has said the study will begin in June and is to cost about $150m over 12 months. The pipeline, which will also cross Georgia, is due to be finished by 2004, if necessary financing is in place. (Moscow, which wants oil from the Caspian to be transported through its territory, has cast doubt over the viability of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which has been embraced by Washington to limit Moscow's influence in the region. But consortium members say they are optimistic about being able to fill the pipeline, with a suggested capacity of 1m b/d, with enough oil to make it profitable. Kazakhstan, potentially the Caspian's biggest crude producer, can also be invited to ship its oil through the line).