Iran plans to set up a joint transport company with Kazakhstan to ship oil through the Caspian from the Kazakh port of Aktau to the Iranian ports of Neka and Amirabad, Iranian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Murzato Saffori told Interfax. The diplomat said that the oil transport company Naftiran Intertrade Company would participate in this project from the Iranian side. Iran assumes that the Kazakh participant in the venture will be KazMunaiGaz, Saffori said. Iran announced at the end of March that it expects oil supplies from Kazakhstan to double under a swap scheme over the next two months. In 2003 oil supplies from Kazakhstan amounted to 50,000 bpd, of which KazMunaiGaz accounted for 30,000 bpd and PetroKazakhstan - 20,000 bpd. KazMunaiGaz announced earlier that it supplied 1 million tonnes of oil to Kazakhstan under the swap scheme in 2003 and plans to increase this to 2 million tonnes of oil under the same scheme in 2004, while PetroKazakhstan will supply 1 million tonnes. Kazakhstan supplies oil by tanker through the Caspian to the Iranian port of Neka, and in exchange receives the equivalent at an Iranian port on the Persian Gulf.In turn, PetroKazakhstan currently supplies oil to Teheran Oil Refinery by rail only, but plans to set up regular oil supplies to the Iran through the Caspian. In exchange the company will receive light Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)