Carrying Azerbaijan's oil extracted from the Caspian Sea to the international markets, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude oil pipeline, which was dubbed as the energy project of the century at the time, has transferred nearly 3 billion barrels of crude oil from its offshore terminal in Ceyhan since 2006.
According to the data of the Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ) and BTC data, crude oil was transferred to the global markets via 3,920 tankers from the Haydar Alivey Offshore Oil Terminal located in the Ceyhan district of the eastern Mediterranean province of Adana since the launch of the pipeline on July 13, 2006.
Totaling in 1,776 kilometers length, 1,076 kilometers of the BTC pipeline passes through Turkey and reaches final point at the offshore terminal in Turkey's south. BOTAŞ International Ltd (BOTAŞ BIL) operates the part of the pipeline that passes through Turkey and exports it to the markets worldwide.
Seven oil tankers, with each measuring 100 meters of diameter and 20 meters height, are in service and operate on a storage capacity of one million barrels.
The BTC pipeline facilitates the export of Caspian oil to the global markets without increasing the tanker traffic on Turkish straits, Istanbul and Çanakkale, two important chokepoints. The pipeline has 51 block valve stations, four pumping stations and two pigging stations.
The BTC pipeline exported more than 57 million barrels of oil in its first year of operation and the number increased to 286.2 million barrels in 2010, the highest ever.
Last year, 252.7 million barrels of oil were exported to global markets via the BTC pipeline and since the beginning of this year a total of 127.3 million barrels of oil have been carried. Since 2006, the pipeline has been reported to carry 2.9 billion barrels of crude oil.
BOTAŞ Bil was established in July 3, 1996 with a view to developing strong, efficient and cooperative relations with foreign companies, which is of utmost importance to strengthening its international reputation and supporting its willingness to participate in various projects and activities abroad. The company was commissioned to operate the BTC pipeline in 2001.
