What is the name of the pipeline that runs from Baku to Tbilisi to Ceyhan?

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The pipeline that runs from Baku to Tbilisi to Ceyhan is the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline, commonly abbreviated BTC.

The 1,768-kilometre pipeline carries crude oil from the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli oil field in Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey. It crosses Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, allowing Caspian oil to reach global markets without passing through Russia or the congested Turkish Straits.

The project grew from post-Soviet efforts to develop Azerbaijan’s Caspian oil resources and establish export routes westward. An intergovernmental agreement was signed in 1999, construction began in 2002, and the first oil reached Ceyhan in 2006. The pipeline became a major piece of the region’s energy and geopolitical infrastructure.

A common mix-up is the South Caucasus Pipeline, also called the Baku–Tbilisi–Erzurum pipeline. That neighboring line transports natural gas and runs broadly parallel to BTC; it is not the oil pipeline named in the question.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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