BTC pipeline back in service - UPDATED

26.08.08

10:36

BP said exports of Azeri oil to Turkey via Georgia has been brought to full operation after repairs to the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline damaged by a fire a few weeks ago.
BP-Azerbaijan spokeswoman Tamam Bayatly told APA-ECONOMICS that oil is being pumped through the pipeline at the regular capacity at present.

"We tested the repaired pipeline. This was some limited and intermittent flow of oil through the pipeline before a move to full operation. At the same time, oil output in the country is being increased gradually to the regular level," she added.

Due to the disruption, the BP-led Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oilfields in the Caspian Sea had cut output to about 250,000 bpd from about 850,000 bpd before the BTC link was damaged.
The BTC line has been out of action following the explosion and fire that occurred on August 6 in the line’s Turkish sector.

The export rate through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is in the capacity of delivering one million barrels per day (approx. 50 million tonnes per year).

At its peak the Ceyhan Terminal is able to fill 1-2 tankers per day.

BTC Co. shareholders are BP (30.1%), AzBTC (25.00%), Chevron (8.90%), Statoil (8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5.00%), Total (5.00%), Itochu (3.40%), INPEX (2.50%), ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Hess (2.36%).

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25.08.08

15:02

"Tests were completed over the weekend. The pipeline is back in service," said an Istanbul-based member of the U.K. energy major BP PLC (BP), which operates the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan line.

An official of the Turkish petroleum company Botas, which runs the Turkish section of the line, confirmed the conduit was "operational" and the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan was ready to start shipping oil again.

"The tanks at Ceyhan have been filled and petrol exports can recommence," said the official.

/EasyBourse.com/,