Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan Pipeline

The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline is a long oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

On November 19, 1999, the President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and the President of Turkey Süleyman Demirel signed the intergovernmental agreement on the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan project, which was witnessed by the President of the United States Bill Clinton, during a meeting of the OSCE Heads of State at the Istanbul Summit. The planning was done in June 2002, construction began in the spring of 2003 and was completed in 2005. The investments in the project consisted of 2.9 billion US dollars, of which 514.7 million US dollars were invested in the construction of the oil pipeline on the territory of Georgia.

The pipeline starts at the Sangachal Terminal located near Baku and goes through the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Ceyhan Marine Terminal on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The total length of the oil pipeline is 1776 km; 449 km of the pipeline lie on the territory of Azerbaijan, 235 km in Georgia and 1092 km in Turkey. The diameter of the Georgian section of the pipeline is 1168 millimeters, the capacity is 50 million tons per year (at normal capacity it transports 1 million barrels per day).

There are eight pump stations, two in Azerbaijan, two in Georgia, four in Turkey and three intermediate pigging stations for diagnosing the condition of the pipe and cleaning equipment. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline is used to transport oil extracted from Azerbaijan's offshore Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli fields, as well as a small amount of oil supplied by tankers from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Approximately 505 million tons of oil have been transported from the beginning of the commercial operation of the oil pipeline until 2022. During the 40-year projected lifespan, the budget of Georgia will receive approximately 1.5-1.7 billion US dollars as transit tax in exchange for transported oil.

T. Gochitashvili