MAJOR AZERI OIL PIPELINE COMPLETED BY 65 PERCENT

Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Turan

Baku, 4 June: The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan [BTC] oil pipeline has been completed by 65 per cent and some 2bn dollars have been spent on the project, the BTC Co (which is the operator of the construction and exploitation of the BTC) executive director, Michael Townsend, has said speaking at the 11th Caspian Oil and Gas-2004 International Exhibition and Conference.

Of the overall 1,762 km of the pipeline, 950 km, or 54 per cent, have been welded, including 327 km (74 per cent) in Azerbaijan, 177 km (71 per cent) in Georgia and 446 km (41 per cent) in Turkey.

Whereas 14,000 people were initially expected to be employed at the peak of the construction, some 17,000 have been recruited and another 1,000 will join them in coming months.

The construction will be over by early 2005, the pipeline and terminal in Ceyhan will be filled with oil during five or six months and the first tanker will be sent in the beginning of the second half of 2005.

One million barrels of oil will be transported via the BTC per day, which will account for 1.3 per cent of the worldwide oil supplies, and for 25 per cent of the increase in oil consumption.

Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 0655 gmt 4 Jun 04

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