Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend / In January to September 2007 a total of 24.9mln tons of oil was transported via pipelines from Azerbaijan, the State Customs Committee said.
In this period export via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) export pipeline made up 19.8mln tons. The BP-operated BTC is used for transportation of light oil produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields. Only two foreign participants in the project of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field development - US companies ExxonMobil and Devon deliver their oil via the BTC. These companies were not investors in the BTC construction and sell their oil via the Georgian port of Batumi, supplied by railway.
In January to September export via the Baku-Novorossiysk (northern pipeline) made up 1.6mln tons. This route mainly transported SOCAR oil produced from the fields funded by themselves, as well as crude lifted by onshore joint ventures and operating companies with foreign capital. This pipeline is operated by BP. SOCAR will take over operating rights following BP's decision to re-direct light oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields (excluding volumes belonging to ExxonMobil and Devon) via the BTC.
The committee said that during this period oil was not pumped via the BP-operated Baku-Supsa pipeline due to ongoing repairs. Oil export via this ceased at the end of 2006. The operator is currently involved in resolving technical problems found in this pipeline.
In January to September 3.5mln tons of oil was transported by rail. Along with light oil produced by ExxonMobil and Devon from the ACG, transit oil, transported from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan via Azerbaijan is also delivered to the Georgian Black Sea ports.