Loading and export of Azerbaijani oil after pollution continues

Export operations on the Baku—Tbilisi—Ceyhan pipeline and loading of Azerbaijani oil at the Ceyhan terminal continue after the discovery of traces of organic chlorides in some crude oil shipments. This was announced on July 31 on AnewZ by Tamam Bayatli, head of the communications department of BP Azerbaijan (pipeline operator).

"The results of the assessment confirm the presence of organic chlorides in some tanks at the Ceyhan terminal. Appropriate measures were taken to isolate these tanks, while loading from the tanks, which were assessed as meeting normal specifications, continued," Bayatly said.

The representative of BP-Azerbaijan pointed out that currently the export through the pipeline and the loading of Azerbaijani oil are continuing.

"The company is currently taking measures to fully solve the problem in close cooperation with SOCAR, while sampling continues before each loading. According to BTC Co's assessment, oil from the Azeri—Chirag—Guneshli field and condensate from the Shah Deniz field entering the Sangachal terminal, as well as oil in tanks at the Sangachal terminal, meet normal specifications," Bayatli said.

As EADaily reported, substandard oil was discovered almost two weeks ago. It comes via an oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The operator of the pipeline and the Caspian production project, British BP, confirmed contamination with organic chlorides, which are used to increase oil production, but must be removed before supplying raw materials to oil pipelines. Today it became known that the Czech company has become the third European company to report receiving chloride-contaminated oil from Azerbaijan.