Today, the construction of oil pipeline starts at Turkish Mediterranean coast town Ceyhan, PRIME-TASS reports. The pipeline is to link Ceyhan with the Black Sea coast and to turn Ceyhan into “South Mediterranean Rotterdam”. The $1.5 Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline is to be jointly built by Calik Enerji (Turkey) and ENI (Italy). The construction of 550-km pipeline is to be finalized in two years. At the first stage the pipeline is to pump about 1 million barrels per day, then the pipeline’s capacity is to be raised to 1.5 million barrels. The project is to open new possibilities for transportation of Central Asian and Russian oil to external markets.
Local experts say the project is to ease the burden of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits and will ensure safer navigation thus contributing to the environmental protection of the waterway's complex and sensitive ecosystem.