Botas International Limited, the operator of the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey, has withdrawn a lawsuit against the pipeline project.

Earlier, Botas filed a lawsuit against the project claiming that it causes damage to the company amounting to USD 2 billion.

Turkey and Azerbaijan made changes to the package of energy agreements in October 2011. They also included some to the document relating to the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline. The amendments made in the agreement will bring Turkey additional revenue worth USD 3.7 billion, whereas according to the previous agreement, the country's losses were likely to reach USD 2 billion.

Botas's main losses occurred due to the increased cost of gas from the Shah Deniz field used by the company at the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline pumping stations.

Besides the changes in the document, the Turkish company will receive compensation worth USD 100 million.

The B??'s total length is 1768 kilometers including a 443 kilometer section running via Azerbaijan, a 249 kilometer section traversing Georgia and a 1076 kilometer section passing through Turkey. The pipeline's construction began in April 2003. The first oil flowed on May 18th 2005.

BTC Co shareholders include: BP (30.1%); AzBTC (25%); Chevron (8.90%); Statoil Hydro (8.71%); ???? (6.53%); Eni (5%); Total (5%); Itochu (3.40%); Inpex (2.50%); ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Amerada Hess (2.36%).

(Sourced from www.turkishweekly.net)