Sezer: Ankara seeks to take advantage of its geostrategical posiiton

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“Turkey is connected to the peoples of Caucasus with deep historical roots, and I cordially hope that peace, stability, and prosperity will soon become symbols of the South Caucasus. I believe that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) as a model of cooperation of Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia will become a warranty of prosperity for the whole region,” President of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer stated at the BTC completion ceremony on July 13.

He said that the port of Ceyhan is a “western and eastern civilizations meeting point, the rising star of the Mediterranean.” “By realizing the ‘project of the century,’ Turkey again affirmed its important role as a center of communication between Europe, Asia, and Africa. Turkey is situated in the very center of the world’s energy map where all the major Eurasian energy routes meet.”

The official Ankara is seeking to take advantage of all the aspects of its geostrategic situation by supporting creation of major energy and transport corridors between Asia and Europe, Sezer announced. The Ceyhan terminal, he stressed, will become a global center of energy trade. “After the BTC, the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum natural gas pipeline are planned to be brought into production,” Sezer pointed out.

The trans-Caspian natural gas pipeline project is also being worked on. Special attention is to be paid to the realization of the East-West energy corridor, particularly, to bringing into production of the NABUCCO gas pipeline. All this ultimately will add to the economic development of the whole region and bring stability and peace, Sezer asserted.

“Thus, the importance of the BTC project lies far beyond the economic sphere. I hope that the spirit of cooperation that we became witnesses of during the construction of the pipeline will persist and help realize new projects. I am satisfied with that fact that the Kazakhstani oil, along with the Azerbaijani energy carriers, will be delivered to the world markets through the Mediterranean Sea. All this will allow strengthening the East-West energy model,” Turkey’s president declared.

The length of BTC is 1, 767 km, of which 443 are in Azerbaijani territory, 248 in Georgia, and 1, 076 in Turkey. The pipeline’s carrying capacity is 50mln tons oil a year. The project shareholders are companies comprising BTC Co, including BP (30.1% of shares), SOCAR (25%), Chevron (Unocal) (8,9%), Statoil (8,71%), TPAO (6,53%), Itochu (3,4%), Amerada Hess (2,36%), ENI (5%), ConocoPhilliрs (2,5%), Inрex (2,5%), and Total (5%). The cost of the pipeline construction amounted to almost $4bn.