BAKU (CIHAN) - The Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister anticipated that the construction of the Tbilisi-Baku-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which will pump Caspian oil to the Mediterranean Turkish port of Ceyhan, would be completed on time.
Nearly 75 percent of the pipeline has been completed. The construction of BTC is projected to be complete in 2005. A total of 21,000 people have been working on the project.
The BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) Company is constructing a 1,760 km pipeline to export crude oil from Azerbaijani oil fields under the Caspian Sea across Georgia to a new export terminal on the Turkish Mediterranean coast at Ceyhan. The project is expected to cost a total of $2.6 billion.
Regarding the security of pipeline project, Güler said that Turkey will provide the security of the pipeline project. "The line is secure."
Hilmi Güler also spoke about the export of Azerbaijani natural gas drilled from the Sahdeniz Natural Gas area of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea. Güler said that the Shahdeniz natural gas pipeline would export Azerbaijani natural gas to European markets.