News On Turkey
United States Welcomes Opening of Caspian Basin Pipeline
25 May 2005
Calls it "magnificent achievement of engineering and international cooperation"
The State Department warmly welcomed the official opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline May 25 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The pipeline will bring crude oil from Azerbaijan's southern Caspian offshore fields through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan for shipment to world markets.
Calling it a “magnificent achievement of engineering and international cooperation,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the new BTC pipeline will reinforce the sovereignty and prosperity of Azerbaijan and Georgia, enhance Turkey's role as an energy transportation hub while reducing oil tanker traffic congestion in the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, and diversify global energy supplies.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman represented the United States at the May 25 ceremonies in Baku, Boucher noted.
Following is the text of the State Department statement:
Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman
OPENING OF CASPIAN BASIN PIPELINE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 25, 2005
The State Department warmly welcomes the official opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline today in Baku, Azerbaijan. The United States has long supported this historic project as a centerpiece of the East-West Energy Corridor.
The $4 billion, 1,000-mile-long BTC pipeline will bring crude oil -- initially one million barrels a day -- from Azerbaijan's southern Caspian offshore fields through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan for shipment to world markets.
The BTC pipeline will reinforce the sovereignty and prosperity of Azerbaijan and Georgia. BTC will further integrate Azerbaijan and Georgia into the international free market economy and promote their development, while advancing our shared goal of developing multiple oil and gas export routes. The BTC pipeline will also enhance Turkey's emerging role as an energy transportation hub and help reduce oil tanker traffic congestion in the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is a major success for the U.S. goal of enhancing and diversifying global energy supplies.
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman is leading the U.S. delegation at the opening ceremony. We congratulate the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey as well as the American, British, and other nations' companies involved in this magnificent achievement of engineering and international cooperation.