First profit from BTC operations to amount to $15 million

"Preliminary calculations show that the first dividends from the BTC operations will be received in 2007. However those are only approximate calculations, therefore these profits have not been included into the draft budget of the SOFAR for 2007. Supposedly the total amount of the dividends is expected in the amount of $80 million, of which the share of Azerbaijan will be $15 million," he said, Kazakhstan Today correspondent reports.

According to the BTC construction operator BP, the average daily rate of oil transportation from Azeri-Cyrag-Gunesli fields via the BTC in 2007 will amount to 500 thousand barrels, including around 50 thousand barrels of gas condensate from Shah-Deniz. 100 thousand barrels will be pumped via the BTC in 2007 from other fields of Azerbaijan.

Around 27 million barrels (approximately 3.7 million tonnes) of oil from ACG have been transported by now since the first oil shipment from Ceyhan terminal this June. More than 50 million barrels are expected to be transported by the end of this year. Gazeta.Kz