By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline has achieved a significant milestone by carrying 500 million tons of oil in total from the Sangachal terminal near Baku across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Ceyhan, BP has reported.

"The milestone was achieved on December 12 when the 500 millionth ton of Caspian crude flowed through the pipeline, was loaded on the 4,922nd tanker named Nordorse, which was a joint SOCAR lifting, and departed for Italy's Trieste," the statement said.

 It was noted that this achievement is a significant contribution to the 15th anniversary of BTC since the pipeline became operational in 2006.

BP's regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones said that the 500 million tons of oil export is a remarkable milestone that winds up 15 years of steady and efficient operations of BTC. 

"After so many years the pipeline continues to be the major artery of energy export in the region serving as a strategic direct link between the landlocked Caspian and the Mediterranean which has easy access to the markets all over the world," he said.

Gary Jones noted that the BTC was built as a huge engineering achievement and with its continuous safe, reliable and responsible operations it can be described as an extraordinary example of operational efficiency and world-class delivery.

"We all should take pride in BTC’s success story including tremendous positive changes it has brought to the communities and the people across the three counties. This is truly a great facility in all respects and we are very proud of what it has achieved today. A big thank you to all people running this world-class facility safely and silently day and night across the three countries. I would also like to thank our BTC shareholders for their support and great collaboration,” he added.

Over the past 15 years, BTC has been carrying hydrocarbons from the Caspian to its global customers safely, reliably and with minimum risk to the environment.

BTC's efficiency and operational reliability have increased from 75 percent at the start-up to the current level of 99.9 percent.

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; 1,076 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.