Clean crude oil arriving at BTC Ceyhan, BP says

By Robert Harvey

LONDON (Reuters) -Crude oil arriving at the BTC Ceyhan terminal in Turkey is returning to normal specifications following organic chloride contamination, BP said on Thursday, though some tanks still hold tainted oil.

Organic chloride was detected in Azeri BTC crude cargoes last week, pushing price differentials to a four-year low and delaying loadings.

Loadings resumed after a pause from July 20-24, with shipments now proceeding from tanks cleared of contamination, subject to testing and charterer approval, sources told Reuters.

Azeri BTC loadings from Ceyhan totalled 423,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July, according to data from analytics firm Kpler, below the 561,000 bpd scheduled on the month's loading programme.

On Thursday, the Suezmax tanker Nissos Antimilos was loading a 1-million-barrel cargo for Azerbaijan’s state-owned Socar, a port agent's report showed.

The extent of the contamination and its impact on customers remain unclear. Austria's OMV and Italy's Eni have confirmed receiving tainted cargoes.

BP said it was working with Socar to manage the off-specification oil at Ceyhan but did not provide further details.

A wide-scale contamination of organic chlorides in Russian Urals crude oil caused disruptions to exports in 2019.

Organic chlorides are used in the oil industry to boost extraction from oilfields but must be removed before oil enters pipelines as they can damage refinery equipment.

At least 5 million tonnes of the Russian crude were contaminated en route to Europe in 2019, along the Druzhba pipeline system and also affecting some seaborne exports from Ust-Luga.

Russia had to use rail, storage tanks and ships to remove contaminated oil from Druzhba, while several seaborne tankers carrying contaminated Urals were still floating without homes months later as traders struggled to offload supplies.

Russian pipeline operator Transneft paid out around 13.8 billion roubles ($171.92 million) in compensation payments linked to the contamination.

($1 = 80.2705 roubles)

(Reporting by Robert Harvey and Shadia NasrallaEditing by Kirsten Donovan and Susan Fenton)