The SCP was developed by Turkey as a bypass route for the transportation of Russian and Kazakh crude to ease pressure on the heavy tanker traffic in the Turkish Straits, which has emerged as one of the world’s major bottlenecks. When completed, the project is estimated to reduce the tanker traffic through the Straits by up to fifty percent. The project is also crucial for Turkey’s plans to turn Ceyhan, which is also the terminus of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, into a worldwide energy terminal.
The 550-kilometer-long SCP will connect the oil terminal in Samsun on Turkey’s Black Sea coast with the terminal in Ceyhan on its Mediterranean coast, and is estimated to cost approximately $2.5 billion. Initially, it will carry around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), and later its capacity will be increased to 1.5 million bpd. In addition to the pipeline, the project also involves the construction of a docking terminal in Samsun and storage facilities in Ceyhan.
The project will be carried out by the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Company (TAPCO), a joint enterprise of the Turkish company Calik Energy and the Italian energy company ENI, each controlling a 50 percent stake. The Russian Transneft and Rusneft will provide the crude for the pipeline.