BP closes Baku-Tbilisi-Supsa pipeline for June 

Azerbaijan's main oil producer, BP, has shut down the oil pipeline it operates to Georgia's Black Sea coast for the month of June due to concerns over the safety of oil tankers in the Black Sea, Report informs, with reference to Eurasianet.

BP described the closure of the Baku-Tbilisi-Supsa pipeline as "temporary" in a written response to queries from Eurasianet. The company also confirmed that the pipeline had previously been closed for extended periods from March 15 to the end of April and then for the whole of May. It did not confirm when or if it expects the pipeline to open again.

The company said that in the meantime, it would be rerouting the crude oil exports that would have gone to Supsa via another route, through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline to Turkiye's Mediterranean coast.

BP did not directly confirm that the closure was due to the ongoing war in Ukraine but said that the closure was "a precautionary measure" in case "safety concerns" led to a shortage of tankers entering the Black Sea to collect Azerbaijani crude from the pipeline's terminal at Supsa.

Commercial shipping in the Black Sea has been significantly disrupted by the war in Ukraine. There have been multiple reports of mines placed by Ukraine to protect its coast having broken free and now presenting a danger to vessels in the sea.

The BTC pipeline can transit up to 60 million tons of oil a year but has been operating at or around half capacity for some years now; last year, it carried only 26.4 million tons.

The Baku-Supsa pipeline is much smaller, capable of carrying only around 7.2 million tons a year, and last year carried only 4.2 million tons.

Although the oil that would have been transported through the Baku-Supsa line can be easily accommodated by the BTC pipeline, it nevertheless comes at a cost.

At 1,768 kilometres, BTC is more than double the length of Baku-Supsa, a difference reflected in the fee charged by the pipeline operators.