(CPC) which was set up to pipe oil from Eastern Europe to the West, according to a spokesperson for the company.

The consortium includes Oman Oil Company, of which Bermuda resident and oil trader Mr. John Deuss is the president.

Oil companies from Russia and Kazakhstan are other members.

Mr. Deuss is also a CPC director as well as the chairman of the Bermuda Commercial Bank.

"Chevron is still not a member of the consortium (but) continue to have discussions about possible arrangements,'' added a Chevron company spokesperson, who requested his name not be used.

Chevron was to be one of four partners splitting ownership interests equally.

The Russian government last month approved plans to offer part of its oil pipeline system in return for a share in the CPC with Kazakhstan and the Sultanate of Oman, Lloyd's List reported December 28.

The December resolution gave no details of the agreement, covering a planned oil pipeline from the Tengiz field in Western Kazakhstan -- believed capable of producing 700,000 barrels of oil daily at peak production in the year 2010 -- to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

The CPC was to include Chevron but it was not mentioned in the resolution.

The Russian resolution, signed by Prime Minister Mr. Victor Chernomyrdin, has linked the offer to ratification of a CPC protocol agreement.

The resolution said that after the completion of talks with the CPC an agreement should be signed by the State Property Committee, pipeline operator Transneft and representatives of the Caspian-Caucasus oil pipeline company.

The oil company spokesperson told The Royal Gazette he could not even comment on the agreement as Chevron was not a party to it.

Chevron had apparently considered a $20-billion investment over 40 years.

But they objected to funding the initial billion dollar investment for construction of the pipeline under specified restrictions as well as providing a guarantee to ship oil at an agreed rate in return for 25 percent ownership.

Chevron wants to use the new pipeline to export oil from its Tengizchevroil joint venture in Kazakhstan, according to Lloyd's List.

The pipeline would run from Tengiz to Astrakhan and Komsomolskoye in southern Russia, before cutting across the north Caucasus to the Black Sea.