The project has caused economic and physical disruption to hundreds of communities along the route, while delivering no energy to them: despite the severe energy poverty in region, the oil is destined for the West. The pipeline required the confiscation of people's land; many received meagre or no compensation. In Turkey, affected people received less than the value of a cigarette packet per square metre, encouraging further migration away from their villages.

In Georgia, the pipeline passes through the pristine Borjomi Nature Reserve, Georgia's foremost natural resource and site of Borjomi mineral water springs, an important export product. Watersheds are threatened and local water sources were already polluted during construction. BTC passes through a region of northern Turkey which suffers from severe seismicity, where earthquakes have been known to level whole cities. Up to three supertankers per day will leave the port of Ceyhan in Turkey, threatening the viability of fishing in the area. Once in full production, BTC will transport one million barrels of oil a day. When burnt, this will produce 160 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) each year. This is equal to the pollution from every power station in the UK (163 million tonnes CO₂).

BTC passes through or near seven different conflict zones, encouraging antagonism. It has led to the creation of a 1,000-mile militarised corridor through three countries that are known for their poor human rights record. The Azeri government has stated publically that it will use BTC-revenues to build up its army to threaten Armenia. Agreements signed between BP and the three host governments have been described as 'colonial', as they bypass social, environmental and other domestic legislation, giving effective sovereignty to BP and its partners.

Failed Construction Standards
Whistleblowers working on the Turkish section raised serious concerns regarding inordinate cost-cutting and a lack of safety standards. In some cases, necessary seismic experts were not hired, in order to reduce costs further. The anti-erosion coating used in Georgia and Azerbaijan was shown to be faulty and wholly unsuitable for such a pipeline. BP's ignored its own consultants who warned that that it would lead to major leaks. Application of the coating continued, despite an internal report for BP showing 25% failure rates in Georgia.