Azernews.Az

The first tanker carrying Azerbaijan's oil delivered to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline has been dispatched to the United States.
The ceremony held on this occasion was attended by Azerbaijani and Turkish officials. The Azerbaijani delegation, among others, included Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov and president of the state oil company SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev.
The tanker transporting Azerbaijani oil from Ceyhan to the U.S. is named after the nationwide leader, former president Heydar Aliyev and is owned by the Palmali company. The vessel has a lifting capacity of 120,000 tons of oil.
Palmali is the official carrier of Azerbaijan's oil transported via BTC from the Turkish port, according to the contract it signed with SOCAR this May.
SOCAR boss Abdullayev said Azerbaijan's oil will be transported to a number of European and Asian countries along with the United States, under the contracts signed with the state oil company.
"These states include Thailand, India and Israel. Moreover, we are in talks on the issue with the Chilean government," he told journalists in Ceyhan.
Azerbaijani oil has been so far dispatched to Italy, Spain and Greece. 337 tankers filled with a total of 300 million barrels have been loaded from the Ceyhan terminal since the BP-operated pipeline opened in July 2006.
The oil pumped into the 1768-km conduit is produced from the major Azeri-Chirag-Gunashi fields in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea. The conduit's throughput capacity is up to one million barrels per day, or some 50 million tons a year.