South Caucasus Pipeline

South Caucasus Pipeline (also: "Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Pipeline", "BTE pipeline" or "Shah-Deniz Pipeline") is a natural gas pipeline to transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Turkey.

History

On 21 May 2006, the commissioning gas was pumped to the pipeline from the Sangachal Terminal.cite news
title = SCP Commissioning Commences. Press Release
publisher = BP
url = http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9006615&contentId=7018471
date = 2006-06-01
accessdate = 2008-04-06] First deliveries of gas started around 15 December 2006. [cite news
title = Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz Field On Stream
publisher = OilVoice
url = http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Azerbaijans_Shah_Deniz_Field_On_Stream/6f7f7be8.aspx
date = 2006-12-15
accessdate = 2006-12-18]

On 12 August 2008, BP closed the pipeline for the safety reasons because of the South Ossetia conflict.cite news
url = http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article160951.ece
title = BP shuts in Georgia links
publisher = Upstream Today
date = 2008-08-12
accessdate = 2008-08-13] Gas supplies were resumed on 14 August 2008.cite news
url = http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article161060.ece
title = BP turns on Georgia gas taps
publisher = Upstream Today
date = 2008-08-14
accessdate = 2008-08-14]

Description of the pipeline

The convert|42|in|mm|-1 diameter gas pipeline runs in the same corridor as the BTC Pipeline. It is convert|692|km|mi|0 long, of which convert|442|km|mi|0 is laid in Azerbaijan and convert|248|km|mi|0 in Georgia. The initial capacity of the pipeline is 8.8 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year, and after 2012 its capacity could be expanded to 20 bcm per year.cite news | title = Shah Deniz taps primed | publisher = Upstream Online | url = http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article119108.ece | date = 2006-09-14 | accessdate = 2008-04-06] The pipeline has a potential of being connected to Turkmen and Kazakh producers through the planned Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline.

Economic impact

The first aim of pipeline is to supply Turkey and Georgia. As a transit country, Georgia has rights to take 5 % of the annual gas flow through the pipeline in lieu of tariff and can purchase a further 0.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year at a discounted price. In longer perspective South Caucasus Pipeline will supply Europe with Caspian natural gas through the planned Nabucco, Turkey-Greece and Greece-Italy pipelines.

Project company

The pipeline is commissioned by a consortium led by BP and Statoil. The shareholders of the consortium are:
*BP (UK) 25.5 %
*StatoilHydro (Norway) 25.5 %
*State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) (Azerbaijan) 10 %
*LukAgip,a joint company of Lukoil and Eni (Russia/Italy) 10 %
*TotalFinaElf (France) 10 %
*Oil Industries Engineering and Construction (OIEC) (Iran) 10 %
*Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı (TPAO) (Turkey) 9 %

The technical operator of pipeline is BP and commercial operator is Statoil.

ee also

*Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
*Nabucco Pipeline
*Shah Deniz gas field
*Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline

Footnotes

References

*International Energy Agency: Caspian oil and gas: The supply potential of Central Asia and Transcaucasia. OECD, Paris 1998, ISBN 92-64-16095-7
*Charles van der Leeuw: Oil and gas in the Caucasus & Caspian: A history. Curzon, Richmond, Surrey 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1123-6
*John Roberts: Caspian oil and gas: How far have we come and where are we going? In: Oil, transition and security in Central Asia. RoutledgeCurzon, London [u.a.] 2003, ISBN 0-415-31090-3

External links

* [http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9006670&contentId=7015095 BP's South Caucasus Pipeline website]