BP said on Thursday that contaminants were detected in some of the oil tanks at Turkey's BTC Ceyhan terminal following assessment of the facilities, adding that oil loadings continued from other reservoirs.
The reports about Azeri BTC oil being contaminated with organic chlorides emerged earlier this week, putting the markets on edge and evoking memories of a wide-scale contamination in the Druzhba pipeline that led to massive disruptions of Russian oil exports in 2019.
BP, the operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, a direct route from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, said it had completed assessment of the quality of the crude oil across all the facilities along the pipeline.
The results confirmed that the crude oil was on specification at all the facilities along the pipeline up to the Ceyhan terminal, it said.
"At the Ceyhan terminal, the assessment of the tanks has also been completed. The results have identified the presence of organic chlorides in some of the tanks. Respective actions have been taken to contain those tanks with plans being put in place to fully resolve the issue and investigate the situation," BP said.
"Currently, loadings at the Ceyhan terminal continue from the tanks that have been assessed to be within normal specifications. Export activities via the BTC pipeline also continue."
Organic chlorides are used in the industry to boost extraction from oilfields by cleaning oil wells and accelerating the flow of crude, but the compounds must be removed before oil enters pipelines.
A port agent told Reuters earlier on Thursday that Azeri BTC crude loadings from Ceyhan were again paused while fresh test results were awaited.
One cargo had finished loading by Thursday morning, after operations resumed on Wednesday when one onshore tank at the terminal was found to be clean of contaminants. The loadings were a few days behind schedule and progressing slowly, the port agent said.
Meanwhile, Chevron-led Tengizchevroil (TCO), which operates in Kazakhstan, told Reuters that its production and delivery of crude oil to the BTC pipeline were not interrupted. Beyond this, TCO said it does not comment on specific details of its operations and commercial matters.
Exports of Azeri BTC are expected to be 17.3 million barrels in August, on a par with July's plans, according to a loading schedule seen by Reuters.
(Reuters)
