Turkish company withdraws lawsuit against Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 6 / Trend A. Tagiyeva / Turkish Botas International Limited (BIL), the operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey, has withdrawn a lawsuit against this pipeline project, Haberturk said on Friday. Earlier, Botas filed a lawsuit against the project, claiming that it causes damage to the company to the amount of $2 billion. Turkey and Azerbaijan made changes to the package of energy agreements in October 2011. They also included the changes to the document on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The amendments made to the agreement will bring Turkey additional revenue worth $ 3.7 billion, whereas according to the previous agreement the country's losses were to hit $2 billion. Botas's main losses occurred due to the increased cost of gas from the "Shah Deniz" field used by the company at the pumping stations of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Besides the changes in the document on the pipeline, the Turkish company will receive the compensation worth $ 100 million. The BТС's total length is 1.768 kilometers including a 443-kilometer section running via Azerbaijan, a 249-kilometer section traversing Georgia and a 1.076-kilometer section passing through Turkey. The pipeline's construction began in April 2003. First oil was marked May 18, 2005. BTC Co. shareholders include: BP (30.1 percent); AzBTC (25 percent); Chevron (8.90 percent); Statoil Hydro (8.71 percent); ТРАО (6.53 percent); Eni (5 percent); Total (5 percent); Itochu (3.40 percent); Inpex (2.50 percent); ConocoPhillips (2.50 percent) and Amerada Hess (2.36 percent). Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az