Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 -- BP PLC, which earlier this week resumed shipments through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, said it has no start date yet for reopening the 155,000-b/d capacity Baku-Supsa pipeline, also known as the Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP).
BP briefly reopened the WREP in early August after completing repairs to damage that had kept the line closed since 2006. According to a BP spokesperson, the plan was to bring WREP back on line at around 90,000 b/d to provide some "flexibility" for the BTC pipeline.
Enough oil had been pumped through the WREP to fill four storage tanks at Supsa and load a tanker there in mid-August, according to the BP spokesperson.
But the British firm was forced to shut the line down again after the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Georgia, especially when reports emerged that Russian warplanes had targeted the WREP and other lines.
Early reports said the physical evidence of a Russian air attack on the BTC line was "compelling" and that some 45 bomb craters were "concentrated in an area close to where BTC and the Baku-Supsa line intersect" (OGJ, Aug. 25, 2008, p. 27).
Last week, journalists in Georgia reported "deep craters" alongside the WREP line, some 25 km from the border with Azerbaijan. Three of the craters, which local residents said were caused by Russian bombing raids, lay within 15 m of the pipeline.
The BP spokesperson said that the firm will be "closely following" the situation between the two countries and that it is concerned about the possible effects of alleged bombing on or near the lines.
He said that efforts to restart the WREP pipeline have been "put on hold until we can assess the impact of this conflict on the integrity of this pipeline."
Meanwhile, he said, oil flow through the BTC is nearly back to its normal daily average of 700,000-800,000 b/d after this month's 2-week closure due to an explosion in its Turkish stretch.
"It is operating—not as normal, but pretty close to it," the spokesperson said, adding: "We're ramping up towards that sort of figure."
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
