GEORGIA SHUTS DOWN BP PIPELINE
The representative added that despite the suspension, the Georgian section of the pipeline should be operating by the end of the year as planned. The $3.6 billion, 1,760-kilometer pipeline runs from Baku, Azerbaijan, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, where oil from Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea fields is to be loaded onto tankers for Western markets. The ministry called for a new safety inspection to be carried out by independent experts, the representative added. The reason for the ministry's request is not yet clear. It is the first time that construction has been stopped in the 14 months that building of the pipeline has been taking place on Georgian territory. BP has 30.1 percent of the consortium.
Other shareholders include Azerbaijan's state oil and gas company Socar (25 percent), Norway's Statoil (8.71 percent), U.S.-based Unocal (8.9 percent), Turkey's TPAO (6.53 percent), Italy's Agip and France's Total (5 percent each), Japan's Itochu and Inpex (3.4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively), U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (2.5 percent), and U.S.-Saudi DeltaHess (2.36 percent).
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