Azernews.Az

Expansion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline is estimated at $69 million, says an executive of BP, which built and operates the $4 billion conduit pumping Caspian oil to world markets.
BP Azerbaijan Vice-President Rashid Javanshir said Tuesday that boosting the throughput capacity from 1 million bpd to 1.2 million bpd will be achieved by pumping a special polymer into the pipeline.
"This is a simple and low-cost way of expanding the capacity of the pipeline. The target of 1.2m bpd is to be reached by the year-end, when daily production from ACG [the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashi fields in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea] reaches 1m bpd," Javanshir told a news conference.
About 800,000 bpd are currently transported through the pipeline.
"Besides increasing the bulk of transported oil, expanding the throughput capacity will allow to increase the company's flexibility in refurbishment and other operations," Javanshir said.
He dismissed rumors that BP and the state oil company SOCAR had differences on the matter.
The BP executive said the board of directors of the pipeline consortium BTC Co. had passed a decision on March 6 to increase the BTC capacity. "Certain discussions are held all the time, but I would not call them differences."
"There are documents concerning construction, running and expanding the BTC, which have been ratified by the parliaments of the countries participating in the project, and BP operates strictly within the frames of standing agreements," Javanshir said.
SOCAR vice-president Elshad Nasirov earlier said the two companies had differences.
The pipe's capacity may further be brought to 1.6m bpd after 2009.
Azeri Light oil has been exported to world markets via the BTC pipeline since April 2007. 28m tons of oil was transported last year, while the overall volume of oil pumped through the conduit amounts to 45m tons. The cost-value of a barrel of Azeri Light crude is $2.
The 1,768km BTC pipeline stretches from the Azeri Sangachal terminal to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan through Georgia. 443 km of the pipe pass through Azerbaijan, 249km via Georgia and 1,076 km through Turkey.