To turn an independent Azerbaijan into a modern, powerful state with sustainable economic development, national leader Heydar Aliyev determined the oil strategy, which would lie at the heart of the fundamental transformation of the future political and economic reforms. This strategy ensured the involvement of foreign investors in the development of Azerbaijan’s oil fields, diversification of routes of transportation of crude oil, effective management of oil revenues and Azerbaijan’s entry into a new stage of development. Under the leadership of national leader Heydar Aliyev, one of the landmark agreements in Azerbaijan’s 20th-century history due to its political, economic and strategic importance – the Agreement on the Joint Development and Production Sharing for the “Azeri” and “Chirag” Fields and the “Gunashli” Field in the Azerbaijani Sector of the Caspian Sea – “The Contract of the Century” was signed on 20 September 1994 and ratified on 12 December 1994 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan.

In 2002, the foundation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil pipeline was laid thanks to the continuous efforts of national leader Heydar Aliyev. Although provided for in the Contract of the Century, the pipeline was once considered a myth, and many believed it would remain on paper. The globally significant pipeline was a crucial step towards making Azerbaijan an energy corridor. The implementation of a strategically important project as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline was a very important event in terms of ensuring the transportation of oil to the global markets due to the protection of the national interests of Azerbaijan. İt is also important for the development of large-scale international economic cooperation, and the increase of oil production in the country.

Almost $ 4 billion has been spent on the construction of the 1,774-kilometer line from the Sangachal terminal to the Ceyhan terminal on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The operator of the project is BP company. The project comprises the following shareholders: BP (30.1%), SOCAR (25%), UNOCAL (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%), TRAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), TotalFinaElf (5%), Itochu (3.4%), Inpex (2.5%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%) and Amerada Hess (2.36%). The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is participated in the BTC project through its special purpose subsidiary AzBTC Co., which is a 25 percent stakeholder in the BTC Company, a consortium of oil companies. The participants including AzBTC Co. funded a 30 percent equity component with the remaining 70 percent raised from multilateral financial institutions, export credit agencies and commercial banks.

As a result of all that a contract on the transportation of crude oil by Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline via Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey was signed during the OSCE summit at Chyraghan Palace of Istanbul on November 18, 1999. It was signed by H. Aliyev, E. Shevardnadze, and S. Demirel. The Istanbul Declaration was signed between Azerbaijan (Heydar Aliyev), Turkey S. Demirel), Georgia (E. Shevardnadze), Kazakhstan (Nursultan Nazarbayev), and Turkmenistan (S. Niyazov) under the witness of the USA (B. Clinton) to support the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and to attract Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the project. The construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was initiated on the Sangachal terminal on September 18, 2002, as the logical continuation of this process. An international tender was called to select a contractor for the construction of the pipeline. The Greek Consolidated Contractors Company won the tender. In February 2003 construction of the pipeline started from the Sangachal terminal near Baku. The Azeri section of the BTC pipeline joined Georgian one in October of 2004.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline was named after Heydar Aliyev by decree of President Ilham Aliyev on 10 March 2004.

The Azerbaijan section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil export pipeline was inaugurated on May 25, 2005, by the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in an official ceremony, which was held at the BTC head pump station in the Sangachal Terminal near Baku. This event marks the official celebration of the first oil into the Heydar Aliyev BTC main export pipeline.

On May 28, 2006, Azerbaijani oil reached the port of Ceyhan. The first delivery of approximately 600,000 barrels of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) crude oil, transported through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, was loaded on the British Hawthorn tanker on June 4, 2006 and dispatched from the new Ceyhan Offshore Terminal. Being a strategic project, it is the first direct link between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean. On July 13, 2006, the opening of the Heydar Aliyev Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline which is the largest energy project of the 21st century, was held in Ceyhan, Turkey.

The functioning of this new energy corridor connecting the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea has created a favourable opportunity for large-scale transportation of Azeri oil to international markets and the implementation of a multi-variant export strategy in the country, meanwhile, the transit potential of the country has increased several times. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline, named after our national leader Heydar Aliyev, was built to provide access to the world market for the crude oil produced in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea within the framework of the “Contract of the Century”. The 1,768 kilometres long pipeline starts at the Sangachal Terminal near Baku, passing through 13 regions of our republic (Garadagh, Absheron, Hajigabul, Aghsuya, Kurdamir, Ujar, Agdash, Yevlakh, Goranboy, Samukh, Shamkir, Tovuz and Agstafa), crosses Georgia and terminates at the Ceyhan Marine Terminal (Haydar Aliyev Terminal) on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. 443 kilometres of the pipeline lie in Azerbaijan, 249 kilometres in Georgia and 1,076 kilometres in Turkey.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline can transport 60 million tons of oil a year. More than 2.7 billion barrels of crude oil have been transported via the pipeline since the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan was put into operation. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has great importance for Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and the region as a whole, Europe, and the world in general in terms of its great economic, political, and energy security. This pipeline, which is considered to be the main artery of energy export in the region, has played an important role in the extraction of the Caspian Sea’s rich energy resources and bringing them to the world markets.

Recommended literature:

1. Mirzəyev, Ramiz Şəmşəd oğlu. Heydər Əliyev və müstəqil Azərbaycan dövlətinin yeni neft strategiyası = Heydar Aliyev and new oil strategy of independent Azerbaijan / R. Ş. Mirzəyev ; red. B. Y. Sadıqov ; tərc. R. Ə. İsayev. - Bakı : Göytürk, 1999. - 157 s.
2. İqtisadiyyat və neft: Heydər Əliyevin yeni neft strategiyasının reallaşmasında İlham Əliyevin xidmətləri / red. N. Süleymanov. - Bakı : Nurlan, 2004. - 234 s.
3. Atakişiyev, Müşviq Cəmil oğlu. Azərbaycanın yeni neft siyasəti və iqtisadi yükşəliş / M. C. Atakişiyev ; elmi red. Z. Ə. Səmədzadə. - Bakı : Azərbaycan nəşriyyatı, 2004. - 264 s.
4. Yusifzadə, Xoşbəxt Bağı oğlu. Ömrümün illəri və izləri / X. B. Yusifzadə ; red. Ə. Abbasov. - Bakı : OSKAR NPM, 2004. - 284 s.
5. Heydər Əliyevin neft strategiyası : Azərbaycanın müstəqilliyi və rifahı naminə / Azərbaycan Respublikası Prezidentinin Katibliyi, AzərTAc. I hissə. - Bakı : Nurol, 2001. - 496 s.
6. Heydər Əliyevin neft strategiyası : Azərbaycanın müstəqilliyi və rifahı naminə / Azərbaycan Respublikası Prezidentinin Katibliyi, AzərTAc. II hissə. - Bakı : Nurol, 2001. - 480 s.
7. Mehdiyev, Ərəstun Balaxan oğlu. "Əsrin müqaviləsi": Azərbaycan neft strategiyasının təməl daşı: monoqrafiya / Ə. B. Mehdiyev ; elmi red., ön sözün müəl. Y. M. Mahmudov ; AMEA A.A. Bakıxanov adına Tarix İnstitutu. - Bakı : Turxan NPB, 2014. - 248 s.
8. Əfsanədən gerçəkliyə - Heydər Əliyev adına Bakı-Tbilisi-Ceyhan neft kəməri / Azərbaycan Respublikası Prezidentinin Katibliyi, AzərTAc. - Bakı: n. y., 2007. - 462 s.
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10. Агакишиев, Исмаил Алиевич. Бакинская нефть и начало каспийского нефтяного бума: 1991-2005 : монография / И. А. Агакишиев; науч. ред. Е. И. Пивовар ; Московский государственный университет им. М. В. Ломоносова. - СПб. : Алетейя, 2018. - 452 с.
11. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline: Oil Window to the West / Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program; ed. by: S. Erederick Starr, Svante E. Cornell. - Uppsala : Uppsala University, 2005. - 150 p.
12. From Legend into Reality - Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Named After Heydar Aliyev / Secretariat of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTaj. - Baku : w. p., 2007. - 459 p.
13. Heydar Aliyev’s New Oil Strategy = Heydər Əliyevin yeni neft strategiyası / Azərbaycan Respublikası Prezidentinin Katibliyi. - Baku: w. p., 1997. - 191 p.