Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 29 / corr Trend E.Ismayilov /
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan Republic's (SOFAZ) dividends hit $314.8 million from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) operations by late 2009, SOFAZ CEO Shahmar Movsumov said in his article publicized in Republic newspaper.
SOFAZ receives dividends from the BTC activities, as the fund fully funded the share of Azerbaijan's participation in the construction of pipeline.
SOFAZ expenditures made up 297.8 million manat ($312.6 million) within the framework of the project covering 2002-2006, Movsumov wrote in his article.
"The energy corridor connecting the Caspian and the Mediterranean Sea put a beginning for large-scale oil transports to world markets and opened wider opportunities for the development of economy," Movsumov said.
According to Movsumov, Azerbaijan has had an opportunity to implement various export strategies and the country's potential increased several times after the pipeline began to operate.
Pumping capacity is 50 million tons of oil per year.
Construction of the pipeline began in April 2003 and was commissioned in 2006. Total construction expenses for oil pipeline hit $2.977 billion
The total length of BТС is 1.768 kilometers including the 443 kilometer section running via Azerbaijan, the 249 kilometer section via Georgia and the 1.076 kilometer via Turkey.
The shareholders of BTC are BP (30.1%), AzBTC (25%), Chevron (8.90%), Statoil (8.71%), TRAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3.40%), Inpex (2.50%), ConocoPhilips (2.50%) and Hess (2.36%)
On Dec. 29, the official exchange rate is 0.8031 manat to $1.