BP-led BTC link loads 2,500th tanker at Ceyhan

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Company (BTC Co.), operated by BP, has said the 2,500th tanker loaded with BTC oil sailed away yesterday from the Ceyhan terminal in Turkey. 

The tanker called the Vinga arrived at the Ceyhan Marine Terminal on 15 April and departed for Spain on 21 April upon completion of the loading. The tanker took on board approximately 735,000 barrels of oil transported from the Sangachal terminal near Baku across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Ceyhan Terminal. The cargo of crude loaded on the Vinga belongs to SOFAZ (the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan).

The oil transported via BTC to world markets mainly comes from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Shah Deniz fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. 

The 1,768km BTC pipeline became operational in June 2006. Since that time BTC has carried a total of over 1.9 billion barrels (256 million tonnes) of crude oil and sent to world markets.  

Craig Wiggs, BP’s Vice-President, Midstream, says: “During the eight years of its operations, BTC has demonstrated exceptional efficiency. The lifting of the 2,500th tanker from Ceyhan is a remarkable milestone achieved by this world-class facility. When we built the pipeline we described it as a huge engineering achievement. And now after eight years of safe and reliable operations it can be described as a remarkable example of operational efficiency and world class delivery of one-team across the three countries – Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our BTC operations team for their excellent safety performance and operational efficiency. This team includes many hundreds of people who day and night run the pipeline and provide services to ensure BTC operates silently and efficiently. I would also like to thank the operator of the pipeline in Turkey and the Ceyhan Terminal, Botas International Limited (BIL), for their essential role in achieving this major milestone.

“As well as achieving this major milestone, BTC has implemented major sustainable development initiatives across the three countries to build skills and capabilities in local communities, improve their access to social infrastructure and help them to generate sustainable livelihoods.  I would like to thank all communities along the pipeline for their support and cooperation. BTC remains committed to continuing this excellent cooperation.” 

The BTC Co. shareholders are: BP (30.1 per cent); AzBTC (25.00 per cent); Chevron (8.90 per cent); Statoil (8.71 per cent); TPAO (6.53 per cent); ENI (5.00 per cent); Total (5.00 per cent), ITOCHU (3.40 per cent); INPEX (2.50 per cent), ConocoPhillips (2.50 per cent) and ONGC (BTC) Limited (2.36 per cent).

BTC’s throughput capacity is currently 1.2 million b/d.

In 2013, BTC exported about 247.2 million barrels (33 million tonnes) of crude oil loaded on 329 tankers at Ceyhan.

The BTC pipeline currently carries mainly ACG oil and Shah Deniz condensate from Azerbaijan. In addition, crude oil from Turkmenistan continues to be transported via BTC. Starting October 2013, we have resumed transportation of some volumes of Tengiz crude oil through the BTC pipeline. 

Bakudaily.az