The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) is reported to have raised about $100 million of its $750 million share in the project, and will raise another $150 million over the next two years, SOCAR senior vice president Ilham Aliyev has said. “There is no problem with project financing,” Aliyev said, speaking to an audience at Johns Hopkins University in the USA. “We will do whatever is our obligation.”
In October, BP began construction of the 1760-km pipeline from the Azeri capital of Baku through Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, by-passing Russia. SOCAR holds a 25% stake in the venture, with a planned capacity of 1Mbrl/yr of oil to be delivered to Ceyhan by 2005. Full-scale construction work will begin in 2003. SOCAR is seeking international loans to finance 70% of its stake, with the rest from its equity investment, Aliyev said. BP will hold a 32.6% share in the pipeline, with Unocal Corp owning 8.9% and Statoil 8.5%.
