Baku-Supsa Pipeline

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The Baku-Supsa Pipeline (also known as the Western Route Export Pipeline and Early Oil Western Route) is an 830 kilometres (520 mi) long oil pipeline, which runs from the Sangachal Terminal near Baku to the Supsa terminal in Georgia. It transports oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field. The pipeline is operated by BP.

1 History
2 Technical features
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The preparations for the pipeline's construction started in 1994. On 8 March 1996, President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze agreed on the establishment of Baku-Supsa pipeline. The trilateral contract was signed between Azerbaijan International Operating Company, SOCAR and the Government of Georgia.^[1] At the same year the lead contract of the project was awarded to Kværner. The pipeline was completed in 1998. On 17 April 1999, the inauguration ceemony of the Supsa Oil Terminal took place. The total costs of the construction of the pipeline and terminal were US$556 million.

The oil transportation by the pipeline was stopped on 21 October 2006 after abnormalities were revealed during the inspections on the pipeline.^[2] The large scale repair and replacement included replacement and re-routing of pipeline sections near Zestaponi in Georgia and Kura River crossing in Azerbaijan. Also several defects of the Soviet times sections were repaired. In total, the repair works cost US$53 million. The oil shipment restarted in June 2008.^[3]

[edit] Technical features

In essential, the Baku-Supsa pipeline is a refurbished Soviet era pipeline with several new sections been constructed. It has six pump stations and two pressure reduction stations in west Georgia. The four storage tanks at the Supsa terminal have a total capacity of 160,000 cubic metres.^[4] The capacity of the pipeline is 145,000 barrel per day (bbl/d) with proposed upgrades to between 300,000 bbl/d to 600,000 bbl/d.