Large-scale oil exports 'to begin mid-November'

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The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline to take Azeri oil to world markets is to be commissioned by November 15. The State Oil Company (SOCAR) president Natig Aliyev told a news conference on Friday that to accelerate oil transportation through the pipeline, a tanker filled with oil will be dispatched from the Supsa port to be used in testing the terminal in the Turkish Ceyhan port, before large quantities of oil begin to flow via the BTC pipe.
This will allow reducing the timeframe for launching the pipe by two weeks. "The pipeline is currently being filled in its Georgian section, where oil has reached the first of the two pumping stations. The oil will presumably reach the Georgian-Turkish border in late September-early October."
The $4 billion pipeline can transport 50 million tons of oil per year. If necessary, its throughput capacity may be doubled. 443 km of the 1768km-long pipeline goes through Azerbaijan, 249km via Georgia and 1076km through Turkey. The BTC shareholders are: BP (30.1%), SOCAR (25%), Unocal (8.9%), Statoil (8.7%), TPAO (6.5%), Total (5%), ENI (5%), Itochu (3.4%), INPEX (2.5%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%), and Amerada Hess (2.3%).