BAKU, July 1. /TASS/. BP has transferred the functions of the operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export oil pipeline to the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), the press service of the British company said.

"The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Company (BTC Co) today announced that, effective July 01, 2026, operatorship of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil export pipeline will transfer from BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Limited (BP) to SOCAR Midstream Operations LLC (SMO), a wholly owned subsidiary of SOCAR," the company said.

The transfer of operator functions covers all three segments of the BTC oil pipeline, in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. In addition, SMO will take control of all activities of the BTC oil pipeline, as well as the general operations related to both the BTC system and the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline (SCP) currently performed by BP.

"This transition is in line with the relevant agreements underpinning the BTC project and concluded as part of the final readiness decision," the company noted. BP at the same time remains the operator for the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Shah Deniz fields, as well as other projects in the Caspian Sea.

The main export oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, with a capacity of 50 million metric tons per year, was put into operation in 2006. It pumps oil produced at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field on the Caspian shelf to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The pipeline, which is more than 1.7 thousand km long, is also used to transport Turkmen and Kazakh oil.