Industry and Energy

Industry and Energy

â€œVatanâ€ newspaper: Turkey lost 210 million dollars for BTC

26 December 2009 09:08 (UTC +04:00)

It said the company lost 210 million dollars in the past three years and if the contracts were not changed the losses would be increased.

The Turkish parliamentary commission discussed the issue at a close meeting on December 9 emphasizing that BOTAS International Limited (BIL) became unprofitable company working at the expense of short- and long-term loans. BOTAS told the parliament that it sent proposals to BTC Co and now the issue is negotiated. â€œBILâ€™s losses were caused by two reasons â€“ first, throughput and pipelineâ€™s plumpness were not secured by the contract and BTC Co sends oil less than it promised, which reduces BILâ€™s incomes, and second, if pumping stations use oil as a fuel, even BIL is secured to receive oil by $18 per barrel, later BTC chose natural gas not secured by the contract instead of oil. Gas price boost caused BILâ€™s losses. Therefore BOTAS conducted talks with BTC Co demanding guarantee for throughput and setting a stable gas price.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was put in operation in a solemn ceremony attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia on July 13, 2006. Turkey was expecting 300 million dollars of annual income. The pipelineâ€™s operator is BTC Co, consortium of international shareholders. The part of pipeline passed through the Turkeyâ€™s territory is exploited by BOTAS International Limited. The company receives 35 cents transit fee and 20 cents tax per barrel.