Heydar Aliyev Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline

BTC History

Heydar Aliyev Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline is an international project designed for the transportation of crude oil, produced from the oilfield in Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, to the international markets. The length of the BTC pipeline route is 1, 767 km, of which 443 km are in Azerbaijan, in Georgia - 248 km, in Turkey - 1,076 km. The design life of the pipeline is 40 years, while the capacity is 1 billion barrels (50 mln. tones) of oil per annum. 1 million barrels per day or 50 million tones per year

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is participating in the BTC project through its special purpose subsidiary AzBTC Co., which is a 25 percent stakeholder in the BTC Company, a consortium of oil companies implementing the 3 billion project. The participants including AzBTC Co. are to fund a 30 percent equity component with the remaining 70 percent to be raised from multilateral financial institutions, export credit agencies and commercial banks. The Ministry for Economic Development (MED) of Azerbaijan will acquire, on behalf of the Government of Azerbaijan, a stake of around 80 percent in AzBTC Co., while SOFAZ is to finance this acquisition and correspondingly MED's obligations in respect of AzBTC Co. and the BTC project. Dividends resulting from MED's share in AzBTC Co. will accumulate in SOFAZ. SOFAZ has been financing Azerbaijan's equity share in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project since 2002, in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 739, dated July 30, 2002 "On Financing the Share of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic in the Heydar Aliyev Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline Project".

As at February 1, 2007, AZN 298 million had been directed towards the financing of Azerbaijan's equity share in BTC.

The Azerbaijan section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil export pipeline was inaugurated on 25th May, 2005 by the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in an official ceremony, which was held at the BTC head pump station in the Sangachal Terminal near Baku. This event marks the official celebration of first oil into the Heydar Aliyev BTC main export pipeline.

The BTC pipeline was officially inaugurated on July 13, 2006 by the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia in Ceyhan, Turkey.

Print version