Azerbaijan boosts natural gas transportation in 2021

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan increased natural gas transportation through main gas pipelines by 18.6 percent, to 35.1 billion cubic meters in 2021, Azertag has reported.

The South Caucasus Pipeline (also known as the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline) carried 50.2 percent of the natural gas. Last year, this pipeline transported 17.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Furthermore, during the reporting period, 35.1 million tons of oil were transported through Azerbaijan's main oil pipelines.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline transported 75.5 percent of the oil or 26.4 million tons. Furthermore, in 2021, BTC transported 3.5 million tons of transit oil.

The South Caucasus Pipeline was built to transport Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas to Georgia and Turkey. The pipeline begins near Baku at the Sangachal terminal. It follows the BTC crude oil pipeline route through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey, where it connects to the Turkish gas distribution system. Since late 2006, the pipeline has been transporting gas from Shah Deniz Stage 1 to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and, beginning in July 2007, Turkey.

The BTC pipeline transports Azerbaijani oil from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, then to European markets via the Mediterranean Sea. The BTC oil pipeline was officially inaugurated in Turkey on July 13, 2006. The pipeline is 1,768 kilometers long in total, with 443 kilometers passing through Azerbaijan, 249 kilometers passing through Georgia, and 1076 kilometers passing through Turkey. The capacity is expected to be 50 million tonnes of oil per year or 1 million barrels per day. BTC transports light oil produced at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field.