(EnergyAsia, February 17 2012, Friday) — Canada’s Tethys Petroleum expects to boost its profit margins with the start up of a vital oil storage and rail-loading facility linking its Doris oilfield in Kazakhstan to the nation’s main rail system.

The new Aral Oil Terminal (AOT) infrastructure will allow the company to initially double Doris’s production to around 4,000 b/d as it has halved the distance needed to deliver the oil, which previously had to be trucked, said Tethys Petroleum.

Located 230 km from Doris, AOT will be used exclusively by Tethys as opposed to the previous rail loading point at Emba often suffered from congestion as it was used by several companies.

Tethys, which equally owns AOT with its Kazakh oil trading partner’s company, Olisol Investment, is focused on finding and producing oil and gas in Central Asia, with activities currently in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Tethys said it plans to expand the terminal to handle 12,000 b/d of crude in the year ahead by adding an offloading point for refined oil products as well as equipment and materials to support the Doris exploration and appraisal programme.