“The `cross project is unique and it can boost transfer and processing of Caspian crude to 370,000 barrels per day once completed,” Reza Kasaizadeh, managing-director of Oil Industries Engineering and Construction (OIEC), told Lio Jia Ming, managing-director of Sinopec. The Chinese official expressed hope that his company can cooperate with Iran in more projects. Kasaizadeh said: "According to our plans, crude terminals and tanks have come online in Neka Port and five docks are ready for berthing of tankers." He noted that crude oil from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia are processed in Tehran and Tabriz refineries under swap deals. He said that the refineries will respectively rise their crude handling to 370,000 and 500,000 barrels per day. The 300-km (186-mile) pipeline from Iran's Caspian port of Neka to Tehran refinery allows Iran to triple its intake of Caspian crudes and compensate producers with its own oil in the Persian Gulf. While the Iranian route is unlikely to match the volumes that will be shipped via U.S.-supported BTC, the new Neka-Tehran link will triple swap capacity to 150,000 barrels per day (bpd). This can be upped to 350,000 bpd if extra pumping stations are added. The BTC will be able to carry over one million bpd. Iran has renovated Neka's port and storage facilities to accommodate large tankers and more crude. Recently it ordered six 60,000-tonne oil tankers from Russia for $240 million and will receive them in the Caspian by 2005. The pipeline was built by upgrading and reversing the flow of an old link that earlier delivered oil products from Tehran refinery to the northern Caspian region of Iran.