BP says no accident on BTC pipeline

There have been no accidents on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, BP, the pipeline’s operator, told Trend on May 8.

The company said the reports of some media outlets about an alleged accident on the BTC pipeline doesn’t correspond to reality.

“A press release of the company, which installed pumps on the pipeline for pumping the oil to prevent its spills, said that since BTC’s commissioning they [the pumps] have never been used,” said BP.

“During maintenance works, carried out every six months, one of the pumps got clogged with junk. The pump’s operation was restored within three weeks. This hasn’t affected the pipeline’s operation,” the company said.

The total length of the B?? is 1,768 kilometers including a 443 kilometer-long section running through Azerbaijan, a 249-kilometer long section in Georgia and a 1,076-kilometer long section in Turkey. The construction of the pipeline started in April 2003. It was filled with oil on May 18, 2005.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company (BTC Co.) was established in 2002 for the BTC’s construction.

BTC Co. shareholders are: BP (30.1 percent), AzBTC (25 percent), Chevron (8.9 percent), Statoil (8.71 percent), ???? (6.53 percent), Eni (5 percent), Total (5 percent), Itochu (3.4 percent), Inpex (2.5 percent), ConocoPhillips (2.5 percent) and ONGC (2.36 percent).

/By Trend/