BP reopens Georgia gas pipeline

BP resumed exports of Azerbaijani natural gas exports through a pipeline across Georgia to Turkey on Thursday. However its oil pipeline to the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa remained out of action because of fears of fallout from Georgia’s conflict with Russia.Both pipelines were closed by the British energy group on Tuesday amid concerns about security emanating from the conflict between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia.”BP began filling the South Caucasus pipeline again today because we believe it is now safe enough to do so,” said Toby Odone,a BP spokesman. Supply disruptions to Georgia and Turkey had been minimal because of gas stored in the line, he said. However, the BP-operated 150,000 barrels a day oil pipeline from Baku to Supsa is still closed because of doubts about safety at Georgia’s Black Sea ports.Oil exports from Azerbaijan were drastically reduced last week after an explosion on the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean, the main artery for Azerbaijan’s oil exports. Kurdish separatists claimed responsibility for the accident on the pipeline which was carrying about 850,000 barrels a day of oil to western markets at the time.Repair work on BTC is expected to take several weeks.Russia invited Azerbaijan on Wednesday to increase its oil exports through a pipeline from Baku to Novorrosiysk on the Russian Black Sea. Exports of Azerbaijani oil through the pipeline to Russia have slowed to a trickle since the Baku-Tbilisi-Cehyan pipeline began working in 2005.Pipelines across the Caucasus have provided Caspian oil and gas producers with a first, non-Russian pipeline route to export markets. Russia is also pressing Azerbaijan to export gas through Russian pipelines, diverting supplies away from the route across the Caucasus.
By Isabel Gorst in Moscow
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1027bdb0-69e9-11dd-83e8-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
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