Turkey said on February 9th that U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. had expressed interest in taking part in the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline project to carry Caspian crude to the Mediterranean Sea.
A statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office said that: “Chevron has written a letter of intent to our foreign ministry yesterday and has announced that it intends to participate in the Baku-Tiflis[Tibilisi]-Ceyhan pipeline and the engineering studies.” The proposed $2.4 billion, 1,730-km pipeline will carry Caspian oil from the Azeri capital of Baku through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Officials had doubted whether the pipeline would prove economically viable, but Chevron’s announcement could jumpstart the project.
The ministry statement said that: “This development demonstrates that those that remained outside the group of companies established for the Baku-Tiflis-Ceyhan pipeline have come to accept that this project is on the way to coming true and that they view this as a commercially viable project.”
Chevron is the primary operator of the massive Tengiz oil field in Kazakstan and the inclusion of Kazak oil in the export volumes through the pipeline could boost the project’s viability.
Gokhan Yardim, head of Turkish state pipeline company Botas, said on February 7th that four of the six firms short listed to conduct a detailed engineering study would submit bids in March.
The short listed firms include Kvaerner, Halliburton, Gulf Interstate, Universal Ensco, Penspen and ILF.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
