Azerbaijan boosts natural gas transport

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan increased natural gas transport through the main gas pipelines by 12.8 percent, to 25.5 billion cubic meters in January-August 2022, Azernews reports.

The South Caucasus Pipeline (also known as the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline) carried 52.7 percent of the natural gas. In the first eight months of the year, this pipeline transported 13.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Moreover, during the reporting period, 24.5 million tons of oil were transported through Azerbaijan's main oil pipelines.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline transported 79 percent of the oil or 19.2 million tons. In addition, in January-August, BTC transported 3.1 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 July 2007 to 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 km long in total, with 443 km passing through Azerbaijan, 249 km passing through Georgia, and 1076 km 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.