MOSCOW, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Caspian pipeline (CPC) willbe ready to get commercial oil flows from the newly launchedKazakh Kashagan oilfield only in the spring, a senior officialat Russia's oil pipeline monopoly said on Friday, suggesting analternative route for the oil.
"We are counting on receiving Kashagan's oil in commercialvolumes through the CPC likely in March-April," Mikhail Barkov,Transneft's vice president, told Reuters, adding that meanwhileTransneft's Samara pipeline could serve as an alternative.
He has said that the expansion programme of the CPC, whereTransneft is a shareholder, is behind schedule by up to a year.
Kazakhstan expects Kashagan, the world's biggest oil find indecades, to achieve commercial production in October and producearound 8 million tonnes of crude in 2014.
A CPC spokesman in Moscow said the shipments from Kashaganwould begin in late October.
Central Asia's largest economy and the second-largestex-Soviet oil producer after Russia, Kazakhstan has forecastKashagan will produce 1 million barrels per day from 2020 andeventually reach 1.5 million bpd.