Nazarbaev made the remarks after talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Astana today.

He said the state-owned company KazMunayGaz was considering building the refinery at the Black Sea port of Batumi. He said the project would cost up to $1 billion.

"KazMunayGaz is buying a majority stake in the Batumi port now, and we talked about that too," Nazarbaev said. "If this happens, they are looking into building a terminal and an oil refinery there."

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