17-05-99 A spokeswoman for the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) said that the new Baku-Supsa pipeline was pumping oil at its full capacity of 115,000 barrels per day.
The AIOC had originally planned to bring the early oil pipeline up to full capacity in June of this year, Tamam Bayatly said. All construction work on the pipeline itself has been completed, and the sixth and final pumping station along the Baku-Supsa route was finished earlier in May, she added.

AIOC officials have said they are eager to make good use of the new pipeline, particularly since the Russian state pipeline operator Transneft appears to be having trouble keeping the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline -- the consortium's only other export outlet -- open. The northern pipeline has been shut down repeatedly since the beginning of the year.
Frequent interruption of service is not the only drawback of the northern pipeline; Transneft charges the AIOC and SOCAR $ 15.67 for every ton of oil transported from the Azerbaijani border to Novorossiysk. By contrast, the cost of shipping one ton of crude from Baku to Supsa through the new pipeline has been figured at only $ 2-3 per ton.
The westward-leading pipeline may become even more economical if the AIOC builds new infrastructure facilities; with extra pumping stations and storage facilities at the Baku and Supsa terminals, industry experts say, the pipeline could handle 250,000 bpd.