Azerbaijan Resumes Supply to Turkey After Reports of Explosion

BP has confirmed that it has restarted supply of gas to Turkey from Azerbaijan following an explosion of a pipeline last week.

The reported explosion, which affected supply from the Shah Deniz gas fields, occurred on Thursday last week. Though it has not been confirmed by BP, the Trend news agency reported that the blast which halted supply was as a result of a terrorist attack on the pipeline in Turkey, near Kars.

BP Azerbaijan confirmed to Reuters news agency that supply had resumed through the pipeline yesterday following the shutdown of supply to Turkey, but said that the stoppage was as a result of maintenance.

"On Tuesday, Turkey started to receive gas from Shah Deniz field again following a maintenance completion," a spokesperson told the news agency.

Another spokesperson for BP, Tamam Bayatly, told the Dow Jones news agency that the supply had resumed following a request from Turkish gas company Botas to BP. The gas reportedly restarted at 8.00 AM (GMT).