Azeri BTC crude oil arriving at the BTC Ceyhan terminal in Turkey is returning to normal specification, a BP spokesperson said on Thursday.

Organic chloride contamination in Azeri BTC crude cargoes was discovered last week, sending price differentials to a four-year low and causing several days’ delay in loadings, in part due to the extra testing to which each cargo was subject.

Oil loadings from Ceyhan are continuing from tanks containing on-specification oil while BP is working with Azerbaijan’s Socar to manage the off-specification oil in other tanks, the BP spokesperson said.

A total of 425,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Azeri BTC loaded from Ceyhan over 1-30 July, according to data from analytics firm Kpler, compared to the 561,000 bpd scheduled on the July loading programme.

It remains unclear when the contamination started, and how many cargoes have been affected.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Robert Harvey and Shadia Nasralla Editing by Kirsten Donovan)