BTC pipeline operating expenses rise 25% in first half of 2026

Operating expenses on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, BTC, main export oil pipeline totaled $75 million in January-June 2025, while about $57 million was spent on capital expenditures, Report informs.

This was stated in BP-Azerbaijan's report on the results of the first half of 2026, published on behalf of its partners.

BTC operating expenses increased by $15 million, or 25%, compared with the same period in 2025.

The pipeline's capital expenditures rose by $27 million, or 90%, year-on-year.

Since the 1,768-kilometer BTC pipeline was commissioned in June 2006 through the end of June 2026, a total of 631 million tons, or 4.7 billion barrels, of crude oil has been transported through the pipeline and loaded onto 6,276 tankers at the port of Ceyhan for delivery to international markets.

In the first half of this year, about 13 million tons, or 97 million barrels, of crude oil and condensate exported through BTC were loaded onto 131 tankers at the Ceyhan terminal and shipped. In January-June 2025, about 13 million tons, or 106 million barrels, of crude oil and condensate exported through BTC were loaded onto 145 tankers and shipped.

The BTC pipeline currently mainly transports ACG oil and Shah Deniz condensate from Azerbaijan. In addition, other crude oil and condensate volumes from the Caspian region, including those originating from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, as well as SOCAR's non-ACG production volumes, are also transported through BTC.

Since July 1 this year, operatorship of the BTC pipeline, as well as common operating activities related to both the BTC and South Caucasus Pipeline, SCP, systems, has been transferred from BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Limited to SOCAR Midstream Operations LLC, a subsidiary of SOCAR.

The shareholders of BTC Co. are BP, 30.1%; SOCAR, 32.97%; MOL, 8.9%; TPAO, 6.53%; Eni, 5%; TotalEnergies, 5%; Itochu, 3.4%; Inpex, 2.5%; ExxonMobil, 2.5%; and ONGC (BTC) Limited, 3.1%.