CHANNEL ENERGY - THE ROLE MODEL PIONEERING REFINED PRODUCT STORAGE IN THE REGION AND CREATING FOR GEORGIA STRONG STRATEGIC OPTIONS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES

Due to the recent develop-ments between Georgia and its semi-autonomous region Adjara, a lot has been said and written with a great deal of focus centred on the so-called Oil Transport Corridor extending along the Silk Road and historically termi-nating at the Black Sea Terminals of Poti and Batumi.

The Corridor is of great importance and of prime interest to the people in the region, not only for the rapid ongoing development but for its strategic importance and the revenues it generates for Georgia.

Moving forward, any improvements in the Corridor can only be achieved through stability and continued investment and here Channel Energy, in partnership with Poti Sea Port, is one of the largest investors in the Transit Corridor, and is striving to make Poti the "Port of the 21st century". To date, Channel's ambitious expansion plans have been realised, and these have put Poti at the forefront of refined oil prod-uct exports through the Black Sea with the Port now recognised by oil majors and traders worldwide. Moreover, Poti, with its oil products storage capacity now approaching 170,000 cbm, will this year achieve 50% of the oil products capacity in the Corridor and parity with Batumi, and therefore Poti's oil storage capacity is here to stay, and that Poti clearly now chal-lenges Batumi for the role of leader in the field of refined product storage and han-dling in Georgia.

Furthermore, with EBRD financial back-ing, and an environmentally friendly and completely insured clean, loss free and transparent operation, Channel Energy sets the standards for the industry, and is the Company oil exporters want to work with in partnership and harmony with Georgia.

Channel Energy has a policy of main-taining all its oil terminals to high standards of safety and environmental awareness and offers its clients a fully approved and com-prehensive Oil Products handling capability.

Considering the scale of investment and vast improvements that have been made in the Port of Poti and the Poti Oil Terminal in the last three years, Channel Energy still plans further investments and intends to invest in Crude Oil and LPG facilities which are already in the planning stage, and the next phase of the Port's development will undoubtedly put Poti (and Georgia) at the forefront of petroleum products handling and storage in the region.