International legal aspects of the construction and operation of the «Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan» oil pipeline

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the legal acts that make up the legal basis for the construction and operation of the main oil export pipeline "Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan", passing through the territory of such states of the region as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. These legal acts involve two types of agreements. The first type is international treaties that are made between the countries in the region. The second type is host government agreements that are made between the governments of the states and operational partners. The methodological basis of the study is the following theoretical methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy, as well as special methods of cognition of legal phenomena and processes: comparative legal and formal legal. The article reveals the main elements of the Agreement between the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Turkey relating to the transportation of petroleum via the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Turkey through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline and the Agreement between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on supporting and facilitating the transportation of oil from the Republic Kazakhstan through the Caspian Sea and the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan to international markets through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which ensured the connection of Kazakhstan to this oil pipeline. According to the author, the applied mechanism for regulating the construction and operation of an international pipeline project by acts of a public law and private law nature is effective, since it allows considering the interests of entities of various statuses interested in the project implementation: states and operational partners (investors).