The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline will be officially inaugurated on 13 July 2006 in Ceyhan, a port city on Türkiye's southeastern Mediterranean coast. The ceremony is expected to draw heads of state from 15 countries, including U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the leaders of Azerbaijan and Georgia, along with prime ministers from 30 nations and energy and foreign ministers from 50 others.
Guests will begin arriving in Istanbul on 12 July, when Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer will host a formal dinner at Çırağan Palace. Officials will then travel to Ceyhan on 13 July for the main event, which is projected to cost between 3 and 3.5 million dollars and is described as the largest such gathering in Türkiye's history. Security will be heavy, and the Adana-Ceyhan highway will be closed to traffic.
Stretching 1,760 km from Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea oil fields to the Mediterranean, the BTC pipeline is the world's second-longest oil conduit, after Russia's Druzhba pipeline. Construction began in September 2002. The pipeline, operated by BP with a 30.1 percent stake, is owned by a consortium that includes SOCAR, Unocal, Statoil, and several other international energy firms.
With a capacity of one million barrels per day, the pipeline is expected to carry roughly 8 percent of global commercial oil output through Türkiye, generating approximately 300 million dollars annually for the country. The first oil reached Ceyhan on 28 May 2006.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2006, in its own words.