As Putin played host to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow yesterday, the former Russian president told reporters: “We agreed to step up work on the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline.”
Calik Energy of Turkey and Eni of Italy are also involved in the proposal. Putin added: “We will start to study this with the Italian partners.”
The scheme would deliver 1.5M barrels per day for tanker loading at Ceyhan. It probably would mean cancelling a lower-capacity pipeline scheme agreed by the Russian, Bulgarian and Greek governments, running between Burgas and Alexandroupolis.
Erdogan said Russia is now Turkey’s most important economic partner, while Turkey is the seventh largest trading partner for Russia.
IHS Global Insight commented: “For Russia, Erdogan’s support for the South Stream project was the key result of the talks, moving construction of the pipeline one step closer to reality. Putin said that ecological surveys of the Turkish waters have already been completed, with geological surveys around 85% finished.
“Russia’s Gazprom, which is leading the project, yesterday announced the establishment of a project management department for South Stream,” it noted.