Azernews.Az

The package of energy deals recently signed by Turkey and Azerbaijan includes an agreement on amendments to the document on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which transports Azerbaijani oil through Turkey, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz was quoted by Hurriyet newspaper as saying.

The amendments made to the agreement will bring Turkey additional revenue of $3.7 billion, whereas according to the previous agreement, Turkey was to incur a loss totaling $1 billion, Yildiz said.

Negotiations on amending the agreement have long been underway. The talks were initiated by Botas International Limited (BIL), which is the operator of the pipeline on Turkish territory.

Major losses of BIL occurred because of the high cost of gas produced from Azerbaijan’s giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea used by the company at the pumping stations of the BTC pipeline, Hurriyet said.

Yildiz said that because of the increased cost of gas, the losses of BIL alone total $30 million per year. During the talks, an agreement was reached on reducing the cost of gas delivered to BIL. In addition, Turkey's costs worth $100 million will be compensated, he said.

As of October 29, 2011, the Turkish company has shipped from Ceyhan oil terminal about 1.3 billion barrels of oil received through the BTC since the pipeline was commissioned in 2006.

The BТС's total length is 1,768 kilometers, including a 443-kilometer section running via Azerbaijan, a 249-kilometer section traversing Georgia and a 1.076-kilometer section passing through Turkey. The pipeline transports oil produced from Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields in the Caspian Sea, condensate from the Shahdaniz field, as well as Turkmenistan’s crude.

The pipeline, operated by the international consortium BTC Co, allows to export crude from the oil-rich Caspian Sea without increasing tanker traffic through the crowded Turkish Straits.

BTC Co. shareholders include: BP (30.1 percent), AzBTC (25 percent), Chevron (8.90 percent), Statoil Hydro (8.71 percent), ТРАО (6.53 percent), Eni (5 percent), Total (5 percent), Itochu (3.40 percent), Inpex (2.50 percent), ConocoPhillips (2.50 percent), and Amerada Hess (2.36 percent).