2008-05-07 21:56:10 -

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia and Kazakhstan have agreed to double the capacity of a Caspian region pipeline that should help open up Central Asian oil fields to Western markets.
Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry says negotiators reached agreement this week in Kazakhstan.
The ministry said in a statement Wednesday that expansion should take place in two stages

by 2012, bringing annual capacity to 67 million metric tons.
The 1,510-kilometer (940-mile) pipeline connects the major oil fields in western Kazakhstan with the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. It's the only one to run through Russia that is not controlled by the state-controlled monopoly OAO Transneft.
U.S.-based Chevron Corp. is the biggest oil company involved in the pipeline consortium.