Turkey's TPAO gains $12bn from BTC pipeline

The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) has gained an income of 12 billion dollars from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude oil pipeline, Turkish Minister of Energy & Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said on Monday. Turkey has around 3,800 km of oil pipelines and around 80,000 km of natural gas pipelines, Yildiz said regarding the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline during the "Pipeline and safe life" award ceremony at the presidency in Ankara. Pointing out the TPAO's 6.5% share in the BTC crude oil pipeline, Yildiz said that the BTC crude oil pipeline had transported 1.8 billion barrels in trade volume to date. Noting that any political instability would affect oil prices in international markets, Yildiz stressed, "Turkey's political stability and sustainability minimize the risk (for the pipelines)." Reminding that 10% of the world's oil trade flows along the Suez Canal, he added, "3% of the world's oil trade is flowing along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Kirkuk-Yumurtalik crude oil pipelines (throughTurkey)."