Kazakhstan is building a fleet of tankers to carry crude oil exports to various destinations on the Caspian Sea, state oil company KazMunaigaz said Friday. So far KazMunaiGaz has ordered three 12,000-dwt vessels from Vyborg shipyard in northwest Russia. The first, named Astana, is expected to be delivered before the year-end. Two more will be completed in 2005. Further orders are likely to follow. Caspian export outlets for Kazakhstan include Russia\'s Makhachkala port on the northwest coast which ties into a pipeline running to Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. During the warmer months of the year, oil can also be moved into European Russia via the River Volga which joins the Caspian near Astrakhan. Iran\'s Neka port on the south coast is another option. Shipments of Kazakh oil to Azerbaijan are likely to climb swiftly following completion next year of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean. (Platts Commodity News)