BP resumes gas flows to Turkey

BAKU/LONDON (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) has resumed gas exports from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia but the oil pipeline to the Black Sea port of Supsa remains closed due to conflict between Russia and Georgia, BP said on Thursday.

The British oil major shut the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline and the gas pipeline to Turkey early on Tuesday because of the military conflict in Georgia.

BP has reopened the gas pipeline, which turns south towards Turkey just west of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi but it is keeping the oil pipeline which continues west to Supsa closed.

U.S. President George Bush said on Wednesday he was concerned about reports that Russian forces were blocking access to the port of Poti and blowing up Georgian vessels. Poti is about 15 kilometres north of Supsa.

"The oil pipeline is still currently under review," a spokeswoman for BP said on Thursday.

The Baku-Supsa pipeline closure further limits BP's export options from the land-locked Caspian Sea after a fire damaged its key Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) link to Turkey last week.

A senior source from Turkish energy company Botas said repair work had begun on Thursday but gave no estimate of how long it would take to reopen the 1 million barrel a day line.

Turkey boosted its natural gas imports from Iran on Wednesday to make up for a cut in Azeri supplies.

(Reporting by Lada Yevgrashina/Daniel Fineren)