Lined up: Samsun-Ceyhan pipe plans
Caspian oil lined up for Turkey pipe
Oil from the Caspian and the Black Sea will supply the Samsum-Ceyhan pipeline linking Turkey's Black Sea coast and its Mediterranean coast, the chief executive of Italy’s Eni Paolo Scaroni said today.
"Caspian oil is around 2.4 million barrels per day. In the next ten years oil from the Caspian area will grow by another 2 million barrels per day," Paolo Scaroni said at the signing of the agreement between Italy, Russia and Turkey to build the pipeline.
"Then there is the Black Sea (oil) and that will increase too," he said.
Asked about funding, he said "projects of this kind are normally easily funded".
Russian Vice Prime Minister Igor Ivanovich Sechin, Russian Minister of Energy Sergei Shmatko, Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and the Italian Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola, were all signatories.
“The Ministers confirm that their countries will guarantee the stable and balanced regulatory framework needed for the construction of the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline,” said Italian operator Eni in a statement.
Eni has been heavily involved in the oil pipeline project since 2005.
Meanwhile, Turkey said it was ready to pay more for transit of Azerbaijan gas across its territory.
"We are ready for talks. We have made our offer. This offer is also favourable to Azerbaijan. We always said we will pay more. Azerbaijan have viewed this positively at this initial stage," said Yildiz at the sigining ceremony.
On 16 October, Azerbaijan said Turkish terms for gas transit to Europe were unacceptable and the country was considering other routes to Europe.