Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 August /corr. Trend V.Sharifov / Pipeline Company BTC Co made a decision to commence testing of the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), which was damaged at the beginning of August as a result explosion, a source said in BP Azerbaijan, which is the operator of BTC project.
"Today the testing of the section will be carried out. Periodically certain volume of oil will be pumped through the pipeline," a representative of BP Azerbaijan said.
Testing of the damaged section of BTC in Turkey is conducted to normalize export of Azerbaijani oil to the Mediterranean Sea, where Ceyhan Port is located. The repair of section will be carried out by Turkish Company Botas, which is a participant in the BTC project.
Last week on 5 August in midnight, in 60 km of Turkish road of Arzinjan-Refakhiye, near the village of Yurtbashi, an explosion occurred on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Azerbaijan International Operating Company (BP-operated), which carries out full-scale development of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields in Azerbaijan section of Caspian, reduced production because of the fire on the pipeline. BP does not announce volume of reduction. The production was lowered because of the termination of export along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the filling up of reservoirs in Sangachal oil terminal of BP Company.
The total length of BTC is 1,768km, 443km running through Azerbaijan, 249 - Georgia and 1,706 - Turkey. The construction of the pipeline began in April 2003 and it was made operational on 18 May 2005.
The construction of BTC cost $4bln excluding the expenses incurred to fill the pipeline, financial expenditures and payment of the bank interest rates. The financial credit totaled to $2.6bln.
The shareholders of BTC are BP (30.1%), AzBTC (25%), Chevron (8.90%), StatoilHydro (8.71%), TRAO (6.53%), Eni (5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3.40%), Inpex (2.50%), ConocoPhilips (2.50%) and Hess (2.36%).
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