Azerbaijan, Baku, 26 August /corr. Trend E.Ismaylov, S.Ilhamgizi / Over the period from 2006 to August 2008 Azerbaijan exported more than 440mln barrels (almost 60mln tons) of Azeri Light oil, produced on Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields, from the Turkish Port of Ceyhan to world markets.
Taking into account the tankers which will be loaded with the Azerbaijani oil this week, the number of the tankers will exceed 550, a source stated at Botas Company, which is the operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline on the territory of Turkey.
Yesterday the loading of the first tanker with the Azerbaijani oil commenced in Ceyhan after repair of the exploded section of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan in Turkey. The first oil consignment is 1mln barrels. The consignment belongs to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), which is the participant to the projects of BTC and Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli.
The total length of BТС is 1.768km, including the 443km section running via Azerbaijan, the 249km section via Georgia and the 1.076km via Turkey. Construction of the pipeline was commenced in April 2003 and it was filled with oil on 18 May 2005.
A total of $4bln has been spent for the construction of BTC 1,768km pipeline, not including the fulfilment of the pipeline, financial expenses and payment of the bank rates. The credit allocated for the project totalled $2.6bln.
BTC Company Shareholders includes: BP (30.1%); AzBTC (25%); Chevron (8.90%); Statoil Hydro (8.71%); ТРАО (6.53%); Eni (5%); Total (5%); Itochu (3.40%); Inpex (2.50%); ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Amerada Hess (2.36%).
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