The official ceremony marking the transit of oil through Georgia was hosted by President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili at the BTC pumping station near Gardabani. It was attended by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer of Turkey, BP Group managing director Iain Conn, and a large group of government officials, senior executives of BTC owner companies and business representatives. The 1,768-km pipeline will carry one million barrels of oil a day from the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to the eastern Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, by-passing the sensitive and heavily used Bosporus Straits. Staged filling of the pipeline is a gradual process over a period of several months, involving more than 10 million barrels of oil. The oil is currently on its way towards the Georgia/Turkish border, and the loading of the first tanker at Ceyhan is expected around the end of the year. BP's Iain Conn described the project as a "remarkable shared achievement", thanking the many thousands of people who have worked to make it a reality over the last decade. "A project of this scale can only be realized with extraordinary co-operation between the three governments, investors and the partner companies involved. In total, the value of the BTC investment in Georgia alone will be close to $800 million. We will continue to operate in this country for many years to come, and BP looks forward to continuing its contribution and partnership as Georgia builds a secure and prosperous future." The pumping station inauguration will be followed by the opening of a BTC Cultural Heritage exhibition at the Georgian National Museum and a celebratory concert, featuring British band Simply Red, for the Georgian public at the Locomotive Stadium in Tbilisi. The Georgian section of the 42-in diameter BTC pipeline is 249km long, and crosses seven regions of Georgia, with a peak altitude of 2,400m. There are two pump stations: one at Gardabani and one at Tetritskaro. The South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCP), will carry Shah Deniz gas from the Caspian to Georgia and Turkey, and runs parallel to BTC. It is currently 60% complete, and on schedule to deliver first gas in the winter of 2006. The BTC Co shareholders are BP (30.1%), AzBTC (25%), Chevron (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), Eni (5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3.4%), Inpex (2.5%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%), and Amerada Hess (2.36%).