The $1.5 billion pipeline is expected to connect the Black Sea port city of Samsun to the Mediterranean oil hub of Ceyhan – the end point of two existing major oil pipelines carrying Caspian oil from Baku, and Iraqi oil from Kirkuk. Turkey is also building natural gas pipelines to export Russian and Iranian gas to Europe. The United States and many European countries support Turkey’s significant role in diversifying energy supplies. „I think that Turkey’s importance with the East-West energy corridor concept is (increasing), in light of the fact that Caspian and Middle East oil and gas producers are looking to transport their hydrocarbons to Europe and the only viable land route at this time is through Turkey,” Gary Lakes, an oil expert with the Middle East Economic Survey, said on Tuesday.
The 550 kilometer (340 mile) pipeline is scheduled to be operational by 2009 and alleviate the congested tanker traffic through the Bosporus strait, a serious concern for Turkey, which fears a catastrophic accident in the narrow waterway bisecting Istanbul, the country’s largest city. The pipeline competes with another project by Russia, Bulgaria and Greece to construct an oil pipeline, dubbed Burgas-Alexandroupolis, which would also bypass the Turkish-controlled Bosporus. The Samsun-Ceyhan line will be built by a consortium led by the Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA and Turkey’s Calik Enerji. It will have a maximum carrying capacity of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil a day.
Italy’s Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani and Turkey’s Energy Minister Hilmi Guler attended the groundbreaking ceremony near the Ceyhan oil terminal, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. „The Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline will also contribute significantly toward Turkey’s plan to create an international oil, gas and petrochemical center at Ceyhan, although this will take some years to develop,” Lakes said. An oil pipeline from Baku through Georgia and on to Ceyhan was opened last year, and a gas line is in the works. However, Turkey’s energy transmission projects are facing steep competition as well as feasibility questions.
„Russia is particularly keen to control the export routes for its oil and gas. Some of the energy transport projects proposed are very expensive and so financing will need to be secured. The projects also need guaranteed suppliers and guaranteed buyers,” said Lakes. The dominance of Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom in Europe’s energy supply has concerned the European Union, European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said last week. „I am not worried about dependence on Russia in oil as long as we have diversity of supply,” Piebalgs said. „The problem is not Russia, the problem is that Gazprom is a monopoly supplier.” Turkey is heavily reliant on supplies from Russia, which provide 60% of its gas needs. (businessweek.com)
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