Azeri oil enough to make BTC viable

7-month basic engineering of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan MEP will be finalized in mid-May with a report for project partners currently in preparation, the AIOC president David Woodward said Saturday.

According to him, afterwards, the number, proportions and location of pumping stations, as well as a 500m wide pipeline route, will be determined. Besides, the engineering will enable partners to arrive at a project cost estimate.

Mr. Woodward said he was already familiar with initial results and, taking into consideration the fact that pipeline runs through mountains, its length will be a little longer than the designed one.

The funding issue remains unresolved, as some members of the Group of Sponsors cannot finance their interest stakes, the AIOC president said.

According to him, 4-5 billion barrels of oil a year will be enough to consider the BTC economically viable. Earlier, the figure of 6 billion barrels was frequently a talking point.

"I think the AIOC and SOCAR oil, as well as oil produced under other contracts, will make up the necessary 4-5 billion barrels", he said.

Mr. Woodward said talks with Chevron, TotalFinaElf and Alberta Energy, interested in joining the group of BTC sponsors, are currently underway. He added that SOCAR intends to sell a 20% share of its 50% interest stake in the MEP.

The 500m wide pipeline corridor has to be approved by Turkish, Azeri and Georgian governments, the president said.*