Russian interests may get a 50 percent share in the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline linking Turkey’s Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts if Russia can supply more crude, pipeline operator Transneft said Monday.
The country’s earlier agreement to participate in Samsun-Ceyhan after years of skepticism about the project surprised analysts, who said it could have been a barter deal with Ankara, which agreed to support the South Stream gas link. Italian energy firm Eni and Turkey’s Calik each own 50 percent of the 550-kilometer pipeline, which will have a maximum capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day.
Rosneft agreed in October to supply the pipeline with its own crude.
“According to preliminary agreements, each party would have about a third in the project,” Transneft spokesman Igor Dyomin said.
“A working group gathered in Milan last week. … We were proposed a stake of up to 50 percent if we are able to propose more crude volumes for the pipeline,” he said.
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