Some 23,000 archaeological finds discovered during SCP construction

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

BP Vice-President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli has said that 23,000 archaeological finds were discovered and transferred to the corresponding structures during the construction of the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) in Azerbaijan.

He made the remarks at the Baku-based conference "Great Return: Revival of Culture" held on November 24.

Aslanbayli also noted that 11,000 archaeological finds had been discovered within the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project.

"If anything valuable is found during construction, work is suspended, after which the Culture Ministry is informed about it," he added.

The South Caucasus Pipeline was built to export Shah Deniz gas from Azerbaijan to Georgia and Turkey. The pipeline starts from the Sangachal terminal near Baku. It follows the route of the BTC crude oil pipeline through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey, where it is linked to the Turkish gas distribution system. The pipeline has been operational since late 2006 transporting gas to Azerbaijan and Georgia and starting from July 2007 to Turkey from Shah Deniz Stage 1.

The contract on the development of the Shah Deniz gas field was signed in 1996. Shareholders of Shah Deniz project are: BP (operator, 28.8 percent), TPAO (19 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), PETRONAS (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10 percent) and NICO (10 percent).