By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that takes Azerbaijani oil to Europe via Turkey, exported over 6.7 million tons of crude oil in the first quarter of 2021, the pipeline’s operator BP Azerbaijan has said in its report.

The oil was exported from Turkey’s Ceyhan terminal, loaded on 70 tankers.

During the reported period, more than $41 million was spent in operating expenditure and over $6 million in capital expenditure on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project.

Overall, BTC exported over 482 million tons of crude oil loaded on 4,729 tankers to the world markets since the pipeline became operational in June 2006 till the end of the first quarter of 2021.

BTC pipeline currently carries mainly the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli crude oil and the Shah Deniz condensate from Azerbaijan. Other volumes of crude oil and condensate also continue to be transported via BTC, including volumes from Turkmenistan, Russia, and Kazakhstan.

Furthermore, in January-March 2021, the Sangachal terminal exported more than 60 million barrels of oil and condensate to world markets. This includes about 52 million barrels through Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan and over 8 million barrels through the Western Route Export Pipeline.

In addition, more than 56 million cubic meters of Shah Deniz gas were exported from the terminal daily in the first quarter of 2021.

It was noted that the daily capacity of the terminal’s processing systems is currently 1.2 million barrels of crude oil and condensate, and 105 million cubic meters of gas, including 85 million cubic meters for Shah Deniz gas.

Gas from Azerbaijan is exported via the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), the South Caucasus Pipeline expansion system, and via SOCAR gas pipelines connecting the terminal’s gas processing facilities with Azerigas’s national grid system.

It should be noted that the daily average throughput of the South Caucasus Pipeline was 50.7 million cubic meters of gas during the first quarter of the year. In addition, during the reporting period, South Caucasus Pipeline spent $13 million in operating expenditure and more than $2 million in capital expenditure.

The South Caucasus Pipeline was built to export Shah Deniz gas from Azerbaijan to Georgia and Turkey. The pipeline starts from the Sangachal terminal near Baku. It follows the route of the BTC crude oil pipeline through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey, where it is linked to the Turkish gas distribution system. The pipeline has been operational since late 2006 transporting gas to Azerbaijan and Georgia and starting from July 2007 to Turkey from Shah Deniz Stage 1.

The BTC pipeline is a transport line for Azerbaijani oil from the Caspian Sea to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey, and then to European markets via the Mediterranean Sea. The official opening ceremony of the BTC oil pipeline took place in Turkey in July 2006. The total length of the pipeline is 1,768 km, of which 443 km pass through the territory of Azerbaijan; 249 km to Georgia; 1076 km to Turkey. The projected capacity is 50 million tonnes of oil per year or one million barrels per day. Light oil produced at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field is transported via BTC.

Sangachal terminal is an oil and gas terminal that receives, processes, stores, and exports crude oil and gas produced from all currently operated BP assets in the Caspian basin and has room for expansion. The terminal includes oil and gas processing facilities, the first pump station for the BTC oil pipeline, and South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCP) compressor, and other facilities.