BP Says Tankers Resumed Loadings at Ceyhan From BTC

By Ayla Jean Yackley and Ladane Nasseri

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Tankers began loading oil from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline for the first time since a fire affected the main outlet for Azeri crude to U.S. and European markets almost three weeks ago.

``The flow of oil began this weekend, and the pipeline re- opened today, and loadings have begun,'' said Oznur Yilmaz, a spokeswoman at BP Plc's Istanbul office. She didn't specify how many tankers would load or how much oil was flowing.

BP is the main operator of the 1,768-kilometer (1,100-mile) pipeline, which carries as much as 1 million barrels of Azeri crude each day through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Today's start to loadings follows repairs and testing after the pipe was closed on Aug. 5 when an explosion sparked a blaze.

Azerbaijan sent oil to export via Iran because of the disruption, with Iranian Oil Terminals Co. receiving the first cargo for transit yesterday, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry's news agency, Shana. Iran can handle 200,000 barrels a day of Caspian and Central Asian crude and could boost the volume to 500,000 barrels daily under swap agreements, Shana said on its Web site. It didn't specify how much Azeri crude Iran received.

Crude from the BTC was being pumped to replenish seven depots that can hold 1 million barrels of oil at the Ceyhan port on the weekend, Botas International Ltd., BP's Turkish partner, said yesterday. The pipeline was pumping at 70 percent capacity yesterday, the Energy Ministry said.

Sabotage wasn't the cause of the BTC fire, the ministry said, disputing claims by the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that it bombed the pipeline. The PKK is seeking autonomy for Kurds in Turkey.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul at ayackley@bloomberg.net.