Turkey pipelines carried 500M barrels of crude oil in 2016

Pipelines in Turkey carried a total of around 500 million barrels of crude oil for global markets in 2016, 50.9 percent of which was transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline (COP).

According to data released by the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), approximately 500 million barrels of crude oil were transported through Iraq-Turkey COP, Ceyhan-Kırıkkale COP, Batman-Dörtyol COP and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan COP. The figure was around 1.2 percent less compared to the previous year's 505.3 million barrels. Last year approximately 254 million barrels were transferred through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan COP, some 50.9 percent of the total figure. In addition, 190 million barrels were transported through the Iraq-Turkey COP, 35.3 million were carried through the Ceyhan-Kırıkkale COP, and close to 20 million barrels were delivered through the Batman-Dörtyol COP during the same period.

Last year, the amount of crude oil transported through the Iraq-Turkey COP decreased by 1.5 percent, while the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan COP saw a drop of 3.1 percent compared to 2015.

On the other hand, about 35 million barrels of crude oil was transported through Ceyhan-Kırıkkale COP in 2016, a 14 percent increase compared to the previous year. The amount transported through the Batman-Dörtyol COP also increased by 1.8 percent.

The capacity of the Iraq-Turkey COP, whose first tanker loading was carried out in 1977, was increased in 1987 with the addition of a second line, totaling to an aggregate transfer capacity of 519.6 million barrels (70.9 million tons) per year.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan COP, on the other hand, has an annual crude oil transport capacity of 366.5 million barrels (50 million tons).

Meanwhile, according to BOTAŞ data, through the natural gas pipelines in Turkey, an aggregate amount of 686 million cubic meters of natural gas was exported to global markets in 2016.