BTC Co pumps 1m barrels of Azeri Light to BTC

The oil has now reached the PSA 2 near Yevlakh in Azerbaijan. 244 km of the pipeline is now filled with crude oil and to date we have put 1 million barrels of oil into the pipeline, BP, which leads BTC Co, announced.

Yesterday the project employs roughly 8100 people in the three countries.  During the peak construction period the project employed 22,000 people.

In Azerbaijan the 443km section of the pipeline is complete and hydro-tested. At the Kura West River the micro-tunnel construction is complete. The BTC main pump station at STEP was completed in April, 2005. The second phase of this pump-station with two additional pumps is also nearing completion and is currently 98% complete. PSA2 and IPA1 phase 1 construction and commissioning is 100% complete and handed over to operations.

In Georgia overall construction is 95% complete, hydrotesting and fibre optic cable commissioning works on  the pipeline section till PSG2  are almost complete.  PSG1 and PSG2 are essentially complete on a minimum facilities basis. The plans are to have the Georgian section from the border to PSG1 ready to receive the crude oil at the end of July and for oil to extend into the Georgia section of BTC in early August.  

In Turkey, the pipeline is over 92% complete, the pump stations are 88% complete and the Ceyhan terminal is about 99% complete and the focus is on commissioning.  
 
During the first half of the year the project’s capital expenditure has been $530 million. By the end of the year we expect to spend $1388 million (including costs of line-fill and financing costs) against the planned $1214 million, because of the higher project costs associated with contractors and project management, the extra scope of work for the Azpetrol tie-in and additional costs due to oilfield price inflation.