BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
BP and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR have agreed on the period of transition of the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) operatorship, BP Azerbaijan told Trend.
The South Caucasus Pipeline Company (SCPC) has announced that as from 20 March 2020 technical operatorship of the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) has been transferred from BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited to SOCAR Midstream Operations Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of SOCAR.
This is in accordance with the revised SCP Pipeline Owners’ Agreement, signed in December 2013 part of the final investment decision on the Shah Deniz Stage 2 and South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion (SCPX) projects. The agreement provides for SOCAR to become the technical operator of SCP on the first anniversary of the SCPX construction completion date.
“This is a very thorough process and requires a proper management of change. For this purpose, we have been working with SOCAR for some months now to agree all details including the scope and timeline of the transition,” said BP Azerbaijan.
In doing so, the two companies have ensured that the entire process is in compliance with the existing contractual framework, said the company.
“Both BP and SOCAR understand and appreciate the complexity of the process and have agreed for a transition period during which they will continue to work together to ensure all aspects of this complicated process are managed safely and effectively,” said BP Azerbaijan.
The SCPC shareholders are: BP (28.8 percent), TPAO (19.0 percent), SOCAR (10.0 percent), SGC (6.7 percent), PETRONAS (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10.0 percent) and NICO (10.0 percent).
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