Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline operating normally - BP
BAKU. Aug 22 (Interfax) - The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is operating normally, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, BP's Vice President for the Caspian region, told reporters.
"Work is underway to fully resolve the problem of the contamination by organic chlorides of the Azerbaijani oil transported through this pipeline. The situation is currently stabilizing, the pipeline continues to transport oil. The oil pipeline is operating normally," Aslanbayli said regarding the contamination by organic chlorides of Azerbaijani oil exported to world markets via the BTC.
He said all information would be made public after the problem had been fully resolved.
"Operations to load tankers with oil from the Ceyhan terminal continue. Quality checks are carried out before each tanker loading operation in order to guarantee the oil's quality," Aslanbayli said.
Several media outlets quoted their own sources as saying in July that excess organic chlorides, which are substances used to increase production volumes, had been found in certain consignments of Azerbaijani Azeri Light oil.
BP in Azerbaijan said on July 24 that oil quality testing at all facilities along the BTC pipeline confirmed that the crude met specification requirements. Organic chlorides were found in some tanks at a terminal in the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Operations for exporting oil through the BTC pipeline and loading it onto tankers at the Ceyhan terminal are continuing, the head of the press service for BP in Azerbaijan, Tamam Bayatly, said on August 5. BTC Co, the pipeline's operator, is working closely with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic to manage the oil stored in tanks at the Ceyhan terminal, which was found to be non-compliant with established specifications due to the presence of organic chlorides. BTC Co is also continuing to take all necessary measures to completely resolve this issue," she said. Comprehensive work is being carried out to assess the oil, and as part of these measures, the quality of the oil is checked before each loading operation at the Ceyhan terminal, she said.
The BTC pipeline is 1,768 km long and has a throughput capacity of over 50 million tonnes of oil per year.
The current shareholders of BTC Co are BP plc (30.1%), SOCAR (32.96%), Hungary's MOL (8.9%), Turkey's TPAO (6.53%), Italy's Eni and France's TotalEnergies (5% each), Japan's Itochu (3.4%), U.S. ExxonMobil and Japan's Inpex (2.5% each), and India's ONGC Videsh (3.11%).
