Azeri BTC oil loadings at Ceyhan resume after contamination scare

Tanker proceeded to load at BTC Ceyhan, port agent says

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Loadings resumed after tank found to be clean, port agent says

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Reuters reported organic chloride contamination on Tuesday

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Number of cargoes affected and severity of contamination, remains unclear

BAKU/MOSCOW/LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Azeri BTC crude oil loadings from the Turkish port of Ceyhan resumed on Wednesday, after increased checks linked to a contamination issue delayed loadings in recent days, several industry sources told Reuters.

The Aframax tanker Searanger proceeded to one of the berths at the BTC Ceyhan terminal for loading on Wednesday morning after the storage tank was found to be clean of contaminants, a port agent said.

Searanger arrived at Ceyhan on July 19, port documents showed, alongside, another tanker scheduled for loading yesterday was still sat at anchor near the port awaiting clearance to proceed, the port agent said.

Each cargo was tested before loadings could proceed, a trade source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after loadings were delayed by the discovery of an excessive level of organic chlorides in some Azeri BTC cargoes.

"BTC Co has been made aware of a potential quality issue related to organic chlorides in some BTC blend loadings. BTC Co is currently assessing the quality of the crude oil across all the facilities along the pipeline," BP, operator of the Azerbaijan and Georgia sections of the BTC pipeline, and the BTC Ceyhan terminal, said.

"While we have not yet completed the assessing activities, we continue loadings at Ceyhan using the crude oil from the tanks that have already been assessed. Export via the BTC pipeline also continues," BP added.

Organic chlorides are compounds 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.

Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR did not reply to a request for comment.

Searanger is the first loading at BTC Ceyhan since July 19, according to data from global analytics firm Kpler. The July loading schedule showed up to five BTC cargoes were due to load between July 19-23.

The Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan route is the first direct pipeline link between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean.

Apart from the oil in Azerbaijan, it transports crude from Kazakhstan, the Russian part of the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan.

A source in Kazakhstan said the loadings to BTC from the Chevron-led Tengiz oilfields continue.

Azerbaijan's oil output has been declining for several years after the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) complex passed its peak of 50 million metric tons, or one million barrels per day, in 2010. The ACG field is the largest oilfield in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian basin.

A wide-scale contamination issue led to disruptions of crude exports from Russia in 2019. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova in Baku and Robert Harvey in London; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jan Harvey and Elaine Hardcastle)

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