Turkish businessmen and politicians eager to see BTC project underway

A number of politicians and businesspeople attending the recent summit of Turkic states in Ankara said they were eager to see the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil transport project get off the ground. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, for example, said at the summit that the countries of the region were capable of ensuring construction of the 1,730 km BTC line and could speed up implementation of the project if they made better use of their particular advantages.
Meanwhile, Tuncay Ozilhan, the chairman of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD), said at the summit that his group -- like the Turkish government -- wants to see the BTC pipeline carry Kazakhstani as well as Azerbaijani oil. If Kazakhstan exports its oil via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) conduit to Novorossiisk, he explained, it will have to load the crude onto tankers for transport through the Bosporus, he explained. This would place a great deal of stress on the Turkish Straits, he said.
As such, Ozilhan said, TUSIAD is pushing the Turkish government and the oil companies involved to implement the BTC pipeline project as soon as possible. Delays would be detrimental to the project, Ozilhan declared. He added, however, that discussions with US officials on the oil transport initiative have been good.

Sezer and Ozilhan were speaking as Kazakhstan's Deputy Premier and Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Vladimir Shkolnik explained that his country would not begin exporting oil via the BTC pipeline until 2006 or later. (Previously, Astana had given a date of 2005.) Shkolnik did not specify the volume of oil to be pumped into the BTC line but noted that most of the country's crude would be exported via the CPC pipeline.
He further stated that Kazakhstan would only contribute to the BTC project if it was economically expedient to do so. He did say, however, that the pipeline to Ceyhan appeared to be a reasonably attractive option for oil exports.
Meanwhile, Gipromorneftegaz, the construction institute of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is saying that it may not be possible to build the underwater pipeline that will connect offshore oil deposits in the Caspian Sea to the BTC line.
Technical experts from Gipromorneftegaz explained recently that conditions in the Caspian Sea make it difficult to construct and maintain oil pipelines at depths greater than 200 meters. But the projected pipeline from Kashagan to Abzheron is due to be built at a depth of 1,000 meters, the experts said. According to the institute, construction of this link will considerably increase the cost of the BTC project.