Batumi Oil Liftings Down 25 pct YTD

Crude oil and refined product shipments from Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi were down 24.6 percent in the first 10 months of the year from a year earlier, a senior official at the terminal said on Monday.

Bad weather in Kazakhstan, where the oil is produced, and lower-than-expected output from the Kashagan oilfield at the beginning of the year contributed to the decline, said the official, who declined to be identified.

The Batumi terminal, operated by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas , shipped 3.490 million tonnes of oil and oil products during the 10 months, down from 4.631 million tonnes in the same period of 2013.

Shipments in October were 266,791 tonnes, down from 612,751 in October 2013 and from 403,435 in September this year.

The terminal shipped 5.63 million tonnes last year, up from 5.19 million in 2012.

Crude and refined oil products from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are shipped out of Georgia's Black Sea ports of Batumi, Supsa, Poti and the terminal in Kulevi.

Some products are shipped across the Caspian Sea in small tankers, unloaded in the Azeri port of Baku and then sent by rail to Georgian ports for export to the Mediterranean.

Reporting by Margarita Antidze