July 13 was a red letter day for Azerbaijan’s energy industry. When the BP-led consortium loaded its first tanker from the long-awaited Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, the country’s politicians, financiers and oil industry experts breathed a sigh of relief. The BTC pipeline not only promises to guarantee Azerbaijan an independent energy supply, and source of oil revenues for many decades, it was also a feat of management that gave the country confidence and self belief.
The pipeline runs 1600 kilometres from the Azerbaijan capital city of Baku, via Georgia, to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. At a cost of almost $4bn, the BTC pipeline allows oil to bypass the crowded Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits.
