By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 27 -- The Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan Pipeline Co. has begun construction on its 1,768 km pipeline from Baku, Azerbaijan—via Tbilisi, Georgia—to Ceyhan, Turkey. The 1 million b/d BTC pipeline will be the most important export route for oil from the southern Caspian area to the Mediterranean.
Plans call for the $2.9 billion line to be ready in first quarter 2005 to carry oil from Central Azeri field, the first phase of BP PLC's Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli development expansion in the Caspian.
Shareholders in BTC Pipeline Co. are BP PLC, State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Unocal Corp., Statoil ASA, Turkish Oil Corp., Total SA, ENI SPA, Japan's Itochu Corp. and Inpex Corp., ConocoPhilips, and the Delta Hess Alliance (OGJ Online, Feb. 4, 2003).
