According to BP Azerbaijan (operator of BTC) Export of the Azerbaijani light crude oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline has been stopped for temporary period. The cessation is related to the problems in the pump stations of BTC, located in Kars city, Turkey.
“There problems appeared with the subsidiary equipment of the first pump station of the BTC pipeline in Turkey. Oil pumping to the BTC from the Azerbaijani terminal has been stopped,” according to BP.
An entrance flange of the BTC is located at the Sangachal terminal.
BP said that operation of the pipeline was suspended after the request of Botas International Ltd, a BTC operator in Turkey.
Oil production from the platforms at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Central Azeri, West Azeri, East Azeri and Chirag fields is not stopped but decreased considerably.
“Total oil production from the field was decreased to 160,000 barrels a day from 700,000-730,000 barrels,” BP said.
Oil is entering reserve crude oil tanks at the Sangachal terminal. For the time being Azerbaijani oil export from the Turkish port of Ceyhan is continuing. Oil reserves stored in the onshore reserve tanks of the port are delivered.
BTC transports oil produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields. The discharge capacity of the pipeline is 50mln tons a year.