Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Oct 18 -- The Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline was inaugurated on Oct. 12 in the Gardabani District of southern Georgia in a ceremony attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and the US presidential envoy on Caspian issues, Steven Mann.
The first leg of the BTC line was inaugurated May 25 in a ceremony at the head pump station in the Sangachal terminal near Baku (OGJ Online, June 6, 2005).
It will take some 10 million bbl to fill the entire pipeline. By yearend the 1,760-km line is expected to transport as much as 1 million b/d to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
On Oct. 10, the Joint Pipeline Security Commission (JPSC), established in accordance with the protocol between Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia relating to the provision of security for the East-West energy corridor, held its first meeting in Ankara, Turkey.
Participants discussed preparedness regarding protection of the pipeline and exchanged views regarding the threat assessment, the regional security situation, training of security personnel, equipment, and cross-border cooperation in times of crises.
JPSC will hold its second meeting in Baku during the first half of 2006.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].