BTC exports 21.4m tons of crude oil in Jan-Sep 2020

By Ayya Lmahamad

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has exported about 21.4 million tons of crude oil loaded on 214 tankers at Ceyhan terminal, over the first three quarters of 2020, BP Azerbaijan has reported.

During the reported period, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan spent more than $67 million in operating expenditure and about $20 million in capital expenditure.

Moreover, BTC exported about 469 million tons of crude oil loaded on 4,595 tankers to the world markets since the pipeline became operational in June 2006 till the end of the third quarter of 2020.

It was noted that the BTC pipeline currently carries mainly the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli crude oil and the Shah Deniz condensate from Azerbaijan. In addition, other volumes of crude oil and condensate continue to be transported via BTC, including volumes from Turkmenistan, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Furthermore, during the first three quarters of the year, the Sangachal terminal exported about 183 million barrels of oil and condensate. This includes about 160 million barrels through Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan and about 23 million barrels through the Western Route Export Pipeline. In addition, on average, about 48 million cubic meters of Shah Deniz gas was exported from the terminal daily during the three quarters of 2020.

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.

Likewise, the daily average throughput of South Caucasus Pipeline was 32.6 million cubic metres of gas per day during the three quarters of 2020. In addition, during the reporting period, South Caucasus Pipeline spent more than $35 million in operating expenditure and more than $8 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. On July 13, 2006, the official opening ceremony of the BTC oil pipeline took place in Turkey. 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.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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