Page 55 - GEORptNov21

Azerbaijan’s 10 month oil exports via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline fall 11.2% y/y/
TAP gas pipeline declared ready to operate
OMV’s upstream director Peter Zeilinger has said that the Georgian block would be part of the company's strategy to expand its upstream activities in the Black Sea region. "This is another milestone following the signing of a contract to enter the Han Asparuh exploration licence offshore Bulgaria," Zeilinger said last June.
Georgia is the only country in the Black Sea basin where oil and gas works are not under way on the shelf.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that runs via Georgia to Turkey declined by 11.2% y/y in the first 10 months to 23.2mn tonnes, according to the State Statistics Committee as cited by Reuters.
The BTC exports oil from the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) oilfields operated by BP.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports for January-October totalled 29.3mn tonnes, around 80% of which was via the BTC.
The volume of transit oil, originating in Kazakhstan, through BTC decreased to 3.3mn tonnes in the first 10 months from 3.8mn tonnes a year earlier. Azerbaijan also exports oil via Russia through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline and via Georgia by rail and through the Baku-Supsa pipeline that runs to the Black Sea coast.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports through BTC fell 8% in 2019 to 31.135mn tonnes.
The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the third and final section of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGS) network designed to bring Azeri gas to southern Europe, is now ready to start flowing, its operator has said.
The pipeline’s completion is a major boon for Azerbaijan, whose economy has come under significant strain this year owing to a collapse in oil revenues and the broader economic fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The TAP operating consortium announced the milestone on November 15, mere days after Azerbaijan scored a major political victory in a peace deal with Armenia, ending six weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. TAP connects near the Greek-Turkish border with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), SGC’s mid-stream pipe that was completed last year. From there it runs for 878 km across Greece and Albania and under the Adriatic Sea, making landfall in Italy. Under its first stage, it will pump up to 10bn cubic metres of gas per year from the BP-operated Shah Deniz field off Azerbaijan to customers in southern Europe.
The TAP consortium is led by BP and Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR, with other members including Italy’s Snam, Belgium’s Fluxys, Spain’s Enagas and Switzerland’s Axpo. The pipeline has now “begun commercial operations”, the consortium said in a statement, although a spokesman clarified to NewsBase that this did not mean it was flowing gas.
9.1.2 Transport sector news
Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia plan to simplify customs procedures applied to BTK railway
Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia plan to simplify transit customs procedures applied to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway.
The issue was discussed on October 8 at a trilateral meeting on customs issues, held in the Turkish city of Izmir.
The parties to the talks also expressed a readiness to strengthen cooperation in the fight against smuggling and other difficulties. In order to enhance cooperation in anti-smuggling and security-related activities, it was agreed to establish a joint coordination centre.
55 GEORGIA Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com