Pipeliners

18 August, 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Oil flows along the fire-damaged Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline could resume within a few days, Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said today. Guler also told a press conference in Ankara there was no evidence of sabotage on the pipeline. Kurdish separatist guerrillas had claimed responsibility for the explosion and said they would carry out more attacks on economic targets inside Turkey. The $4 billion BTC link can pump up to 1 million barrels per day from fields in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea to Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. Meanwhile, Guler said Turkey will hold major talks with Iran on energy sector co-operation in the next month and hopes that their negotiations will yield fruit within that period. Guler was speaking at a news conference after Turkey and Iran failed to conclude expected energy accords during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day trip to Turkey last week. "We will hold important talks with Iran within one month. We hope that the work which we launched before will produce a result during this period," Guler said. Ahead of his departure from Turkey on Friday, Ahmadinejad had said he hoped the two neighbours would soon sign energy accords. Washington, which is trying to pressure Tehran to give up its nuclear programme, opposes such agreements. Turkish sources have attributed the failure to sign the accords to new demands from Iran on pricing and investment conditions, Reuters said. Neither side has given an official reason for the delay.