From there, the oil will be shipped by tanker across the Caspian to Azerbaijan, from where it will exported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Although there has been increasing discussion about building a subsea pipeline to create a direct export route between Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, Kazakhstani officials are not yet considering the plan a real possibility. At the same time, they are keen to find new methods of exporting large volumes of oil from the Kashagan field which, when it reaches peak production in around 2019, will produce up to 1.5m brl/d, enabling the country to double its oil export volume to 120m ton/yr. Kazakhstan's government is currently basing its export strategy on the so-called Kazakhstan Caspian Transport System (KCTS), of which the construction of the terminal at Kuryk is the key. To make the Kuryk export strategy viable, however, Kazakhstan must also construct a 600-km pipeline linking the terminal to Atyrau, as well as a fleet of tankers to transport the oil across the Sea to Azerbaijan, and a connection to the BTC pipeline. Jaksybek Kulekeev, the first vice president of KazMunaiGaz (KMG), the Kazakh national oil company, readily admitted that the construction of a subsea pipeline would, in theory, offer a far simpler solution. But, he added, existing conditions preclude this, at least in the near term. "From the economic point of view, when you have to convey between 20 and 56 millions tons of oil per year, it becomes interesting to build a pipeline," Kulekeev said. "But the Caspian Sea hasn't had its legal status defined, and it is very ecologically sensitive. That's why …I can't tell whether this KCTS system will be a temporary one, all the more since we'll have to spend a lot to create it," he continued. The project, which could cost more than $3 billion, came into being with the January signing of a memorandum of understanding creating a KCTS consortium. Among the oil companies with an interest in the project are Chevron, ExxonMobil, LukArco, KMG, Agip, and Total. The two consortia involved in the development of the Kashagan and Tengiz oilfields are also fully backing the KCTS plan. "This is a very important document for us because we needed to create a group to deal with the Kazakh and Azeri authorities," said Philippe Rochoux, General Director of the Kazakhstan E & P Total, a French company that handled the feasibility study for KCTS. The establishment of a direct export link between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, one that enables Kazakhstani exports to circumvent Russian export routes, remains a sensitive topic in Moscow. Accordingly, Kazakhstani officials proceeded cautiously with the plan, although Western oil executives report that the KCTS plan now enjoys the full support of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's administration. "We felt approximately one year ago that, at the highest level, a decision was taken to support KCTS," a senior oil executive said. "Now, Kazakhstan, through KMG, is really the mainspring of the project."