Gas transportation via South Caucasus pipeline increases

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 13 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /

Around 22.1 million tons were transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) in January-August 2013 compared to 22.7 million tons in January-August 2012, the State Statistics Committee told Trend on Friday.

"Three-quarters of all oil transported via the main oil pipelines of the country flowed through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in January-August," the committee said.

Around 29 million tons of oil were transported via the main oil pipelines in January-August compared to 29.8 million tons in January-August last year.

The BТС's total length is 1,768 kilometers including a 443-kilometre section running via Azerbaijan, a 249-kilometre section traversing Georgia and a 1076-kilometre section passing through Turkey. The pipeline's construction began in April 2003. The first oil was marketed on May 18, 2005.

The shareholders of BTC are BP (30.1 percent), AzBTC (25 percent), Chevron (8.90 percent), Statoil (8.71 percent), TRAO (6.53 percent), Eni (5 percent), Total (5 percent), Itochu (3.40 percent), Inpex (2.50 percent), Conoco Philips (2.50 percent) and ONGC (2.36 percent).

According to the State Statistics Committee, around 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas were transported through the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) in January-August compared to 2.6 billion cubic meters in January-August 2012.

Around 13.1 billion cubic meters of gas were transported via the main gas pipelines in January-August compared to 12.7 billion cubic meters in January-August last year.

The length of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (South Caucasus gas pipeline) is over 700 km. The gas produced from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is transported via the pipeline. The gas is supplied to Georgia and Turkey. Azerbaijan also is a buyer of gas.