BAKU, Nov 29 (AFP) - A pipeline that is expected to go into service next year carrying crude oil from the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan could cost as much as four billion dollars, 350-400 million more than previously estimated, the Azarbaijan oil company SOCAR said Monday.
SOCAR president Natik Aliev attributed the new estimate of up to four billion dollars (3.0 billion euros) to delays in construction and contract signings along with rising oil prices and campaigns by non-governmental agencies that oppose the planned route for the Baku-Tbilissi-Ceyhan pipeline.
He said the cost of oil needed to power the construction is now at a level of 40 dollars a barrel rather than 20 dollars as planned.
Work on the 1,760-kilometer (1,100-mile) pipeline was begun in 2003 and is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
British Petroleum (BP), part of an 11-member consortium, has a 30-percent stake in the project and SOCAR 25 percent.
The US giant ExxonMobil last week said it would not use the pipeline and has just signed a five-year contract to transport an estimated 10 million tonnes of crude from the Caspian Sea by rail.
The Russian group Lukoil has also said it does not plan to use the pipeline, citing what it considers charges that are too high.
11/29/2004 13:11 GMT - AFP