BP Covered Up BTC Pipeline Flaw

April 17, 2005 (The Sunday Times, UK) — British Petroleum faces accusations in court from pipeline contractors that it covered up a safety flaw, which if uncorrected could cause an environmental disaster in the Caspian region. BP is the leading shareholder and operator of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) project. As reported previously in What's New Dec. 2004, the safety flaw in question is a coating that experienced widespread cracking last winter. BP secured USD $2.6B in loans from international private and development banks without disclosing this major design flaw. The UK ECA, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) is backing the pipeline with £60M public money. A former BTC pipeline consultant said “BP is burying thousands of environmental time-bombs. This is engineering of the madhouse.” Read an explanation of the coatings on the pipeline by the Baku Ceyhan Campaign.