Shell interested in trans-Turkey pipeline

The pipeline, estimated to cost $1.5 billion, will carry oil between the Black Sea town of Samsun and the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, bypassing the congested Turkish straits.

"This by-pass project will reduce the heavy tanker traffic in the straits and will have the role of a sustainable export corridor for the delivery of crude oil from Russia and the Caspian region which is expected to keep increasing," the statement said.

Turkey chose Calik to build the 550-kilometre pipeline in April and gave the company and its partner ENI six months to complete its engineering and design studies.

The pipeline will pump some 75 million tonnes of oil a year. Delays in the Turkish straits have added to shipping costs for exports of Urals blend crude oil from Black Sea ports. Turkey envisages Ceyhan as a regional energy hub and Calik announced in August that it had applied with Indian Oil Corp for a licence to build a $4.9 billion refinery there.

Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. It is also the terminal for a pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfields. Reuters

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