Acc.prof. Mahammad R.Jamilov
Acc.prof. at department of International Economic Relations in
Azerbaijan State Economic University, AZERBAYCAN
Acc.prof. Muslum Ibrahimov
Acc.prof. at department of International Economic Relations in
Azerbaijan State Economic University, AZERBAYCAN.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (sometimes abbreviated as BTC pipeline) transports crude petroleum 1,776 km from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The total length of the pipeline in Azerbaijan is 440 km long, in Georgia it is 260 km long and in Turkey is 1076 km long. There are 8 pump stations through the pipeline route. It passes through Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia; and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, hence its name. It is the second longest oil pipeline in the world. The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on May 10, 2005 reached Ceyhan on May 28, 2006.
The construction of the BTC pipeline was one of the biggest engineering projects of the decade, and certainly one of the biggest to have occurred anywhere in western Asia since the fall of the Soviet Union. It was constructed from 150,000 individual joints of line pipe, each measuring 12 m in length. This corresponds to a total weight of approximately 655,000 short tons. The construction was largely overseen by David Woodward, BP Azerbaijan Associate President and his understudy Michael Townshend, Executive Director of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project.
The pipeline is owned by a consortium of energy companies led by BP (formerly British Petroleum), the operator of the pipeline. The BTC’s major shareholders are BP (30.1%) and the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR (25%), followed by Unocal (US, 8.9%), Stat oil (Norway, 8.71%), Turkish Petroleum (6.53%), ENI (Italy, 5%), Total Fina Elf (France, 5%), Itochu (Japan, 3.4%), Conoco Phillips (US, 2.5%), Inpex (Japan, 2.5%) and Delta Hess (a joint venture of Saudi Delta Oil with American Amerada, 2.36%). BP has invested at least $15 billion in exploration, exploitation, pipeline construction and could be as powerful as Aramco once was in Saudi Arabia, with its chairman David Woodward ruling the roost and known in Baku as “the viceroy“.
Construction began in September 2002. The Pipeline was officially inaugurated July 13, 2006. It is expected to transport 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2008. Petrofac International was a major contractor in constructing the pipeline, pumping stations, pigging stations and block valve stations in the Azerbaijan and Georgia sections. The route of the pipeline crosses Azerbaijan and skirts Armenia to pass through Georgia and Turkey. Of its total length of 1,760 km (1,094 miles), 440 km lies in Azerbaijan, 244.5 km in Georgia and 1,070 km in Turkey.
Its structure includes 8 pumping stations, 2 intermediate pigging stations and 101 block valve stations. It will be patrolled by national guards and buried for its entire length, making it less vulnerable to sabotage. The pipeline is 1,070 mm diameter for most of its length, narrowing to 865 mm diameter as it nears Ceyhan. It has a projected lifespan of 40 years, and when working at normal capacity, beginning in 2009, will transport 1 million barrels (160 000 m_) of oil per day. It has a capacity of 10 million barrels (1.6 million m_) of oil, which will flow through the pipeline at 2 m per second.
Link to the Related Book: "2nd International Turkish - Asian Congress: Economic Cooperation and Development"
Link to the Related Book: "2nd International Turkish - Asian Congress: Economic Cooperation and Development"
