Baku News

02-16-2007 Upstream onLine - The BP-led Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is set to pump less Azeri oil exports per day in March and there is no sign yet that supplies to Georgia's port of Supsa will resume, trade sources said today. The pipeline to Ceyhan is scheduled to pump about 510,000 barrels per day in March, down from 521,000 bpd planned in February, they said. The March programme has 11 cargoes of 1 million barrels and eight of 600,000 barrels. There is no indication yet that Azeri oil may resume flowing to Georgia's Black Sea port of Supsa in March as a tentative loading schedule has been cancelled, traders said. "I heard that a preliminary programme put together for March has been scrapped," one said. "I've no idea when it's going to start, but it's not going to happen in March," said another of a possible restart. An Azeri oil official had said on Tuesday that pumping may resume along the pipeline to Supsa next month. It has been closed for several months because of technical problems. BP, the main user of the pipeline, has declined to confirm that March was the deadline for the pipeline reopening. A schedule for Azeri exports from Batumi in Georgia in March has yet to be released, traders said. February's programme listed six 600,000-barrel cargoes for loading at Batumi, Reuters reported.