Operating 3000 miles away from its London headquarters, BP is embedded in every step of the crude oil supply chain to the Zionist genocide, from extraction in the Caspian Sea, to transportation across transnational territories.
The supply chain begins at the ACG oil fields in the Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku. These are Azerbaijan’s largest oil reserves and are the main source of feedstock for the BTC pipeline. Despite being located in Azerbaijani territorial waters, a British-based subsidiary of BP operates the oil fields.
Crude oil from the ACG fields then flows through subsea pipelines to the Sangachal terminal near Baku. Here, the oil is received and stored. This is the first stop of the BTC pipeline, connecting Azerbaijani oil (commercially referred to as Azeri Light or Azeri crude oil) with the world market. The Sangachal terminal is also majority owned and operated by BP.
1,099 miles long, the BTC pipeline crosses international borders between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The pipeline has devastated local villages, cuts through Kurdish lands and its path is highly militarised. It has capacity to transport 1.2 million barrels of crude oil everyday, from the Caspian to the Mediterranean sea.
The pipeline terminates at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The Turkish section of the BTC pipeline is operated by BOTAS, Turkey’s state oil company. Here, the supply chain then moves from land to sea.
The oil is transported along shipping routes via oil tankers. Various oil and shipping companies are contracted to transport the oil overseas. The predominantly Swiss companies that have chartered ships to transport oil from Ceyhan to Israel since October 2023 are Oilmar (UAE), Petraco (Switzerland), SOCAR (Azerbaijan), Vitol (Switzerland) and Glencore (Switzerland).
The oil tankers arrive at their final destination on occupied Palestinian land, terminating at the “Israeli” ports of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Haifa. Ashkelon, only about 12 miles north of Gaza, is the primary destination for Azeri BTC crude oil, and was out of service for months following October 2023 due to frequent rocket attacks from the Palestinian resistance.
In November 2024, leaders from across the world will gather in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, for the 29th iteration of the annual climate summit, COP29. This masquerade of climate talks will predictably dominate Western media headlines and is already being framed as a “bridge between the wealthy global north and poor global south.” Fittingly, Azerbaijan’s Energy minister, who will oversee COP29, has more experience working for SOCAR than as a politician. In addition, it is no shock that the war criminal and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose corruption in Iraq led to BP being nicknamed “Blair Petroleum”, also wants to help run the climate summit.
Azerbaijan and BP’s plans for energy extraction show no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, their oil extraction deal was extended in 2017 to end in 2049. Billions worth of investment continue to pour into this already immense energy project. And this continued collaboration extends to Israel, as it is only within this context that we can fully comprehend how BP and SOCAR were jointly awarded a gas exploration licence offshore of Israel in November 2023 – in occupied Palestinian waters.