The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is providing $100 million in political risk insurance for commercial bank loans being made for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project, the OPIC press release issued on February 4 reads.
“The BTC pipeline will provide the infrastructure necessary to transport oil produced in the Caspian Sea safely and efficiently over a distance of about 1,750 kilometers to the Mediterranean Sea, enabling Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to realize a vital economic priority,” OPIC President Peter Watson said.
The BTC pipeline will transport about one million barrels of oil per day. Construction of the pipeline is already underway, and is due to be completed in 2005.
OPIC was established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971 to help the U.S. businesses invest overseas and support U.S. foreign policy.