Pipeliners

23 September, 2008 - Upstream OnLine - The BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline has shut down for a short period of planned maintenance that will not affect exports, BP said today. BP said the work was unrelated to a gas leak at a field in the Caspian Sea that as of yesterday had cut volumes through the line, which can carry an amount equal to 1% of world supply, to about 40% of normal. "BTC has shut down for a short maintenance period. It won't affect exports because it was planned," said BP spokesman Toby Odone to Reuters. Trade sources, however, said the stoppage was expected to last about 10 hours. BP said last week that output at the Azeri-Chirag Gunashli fields in the Caspian was cut to around 40% of its rate before the 17 September gas leak in the area of the Central Azeri platform, which prompted its shutdown and that of another installation. The company sent a diver support vessel to investigate the cause of the gas leak and that work is continuing, BP said. "Hopefully, that will get back soon, download all the data and find out the cause," Odone said. BP has not given a date to restore output to normal at the ACG fields, which had been pumping about 850,000 barrels per day before the shutdown. The company is the largest shareholder in both the ACG fields and the BTC pipeline, with stakes of 34.1% and 30.1% respectively.