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BP Pipeline opening celebrations

The 1,768 km long Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is the largest oil pipeline to be constructed in the western world. International oil company BP, led the consortium, who started building the pipeline in 1994. (Partner companies included Chevron, Total, Statoil, Eni and ConocoPhillips).

The pipeline was officially opened on July 13, 2006 at a ceremony in Ceyhan, Turkey by the heads of state of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Lord Browne of BP, plus representatives of the aforementioned partner companies.

The First Oil celebration for the Ceyhan opening, was the final event in a series that started in Baku in May 2005 and was followed in Tbilisi in October 2005. Each of the celebrations was organised by Neoscreative, who managed the entire creative, construction and logistical issues associated with the event.

First Oil Baku Celebrations
The official opening ceremony took place at the Sangachal oil terminal, where a self contained air conditioned marquee to hold 400 VIP’s and 120 of the world’s press was erected. Guests included heads of state of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, Lord Browne of BP, and Prince Andrew.

The guests moved on to the Presidential Palace in Baku for an evening event. A scaled down oil platform and pipeline walkthrough was designed and built by Neoscreative to create an awe inspiring entrance to the ballroom at Gullistan Palace. In turn, the ballroom was completely refitted to seat 600 dinner guests and house an elaborate stage show with numerous artists.

First Oil Tblisi Celebrations
The official opening ceremony took place at the national pump station, Georgia 1, in a marquee for 150 guests, plus 50 press, including heads of state of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. The guests were then taken to the National Georgia Museum in Tbilisi, where the celebrations continued with a dinner in the re-designed museum gallery. Finally the guests were taken to the 50,000 seat Dynamo-Tbilisi football stadium, where the evening culminated with an open air concert by Simply Red, (flown in especially for the event).

First Oil Ceyhan Celebrations
By far the largest and most prestigious of the three events, the celebrations at Ceyhan were the culmination of 14 months careful planning and preparation. Over the course of two weeks leading up to July 13, 37 trucks, carrying 500 million tonnes of equipment made their way from various European destinations to the oil terminal at Ceyhan.

Here, a fully air conditioned fixed structure measuring 45m x 35m x 26m was erected by a crew of 110 men to seat 1,500 guests, including 300 press and national film crews from a dozen countries. The marquee contained a large stage with a 22m wide 9m high screen. The 2 hour opening ceremony commenced on stage with the national anthems of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey played live by 40 members of the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Each of the Heads of State plus Lord Browne of BP, and the US Energy Secretary spoke in turn about the BTC project. The event finished in breath taking fashion with the marquee wall behind the stage and speakers dropping away to reveal the quayside and the British oil tanker loaded with the pipeline’s first oil, ready for onward distribution.

This was the largest event to have taken place in Turkey since the NATO summit.