Samsun-Ceyhan Pipeline

Samsun–Ceyhan pipeline
Location of Samsun–Ceyhan pipeline
Location
Country	Turkey
General direction	north–south
From	Ünye
Passes through	Tokat, Sarız, Göksun, Andırın, Kadirli
To	Ceyhan
Runs alongside	Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
General information
Type	oil
Partners	Eni, Çalık Enerji, Rosneft, Transneft,
Operator	Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Company
Commissioned	2014
Technical information
Length	550 km (340 mi)
Maximum discharge	1.5 million barrels per day (240×10^3 m3/d)

The Samsun–Ceyhan pipeline (SCP), previously called Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, is a planned crude oil pipeline traversing Turkey from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean oil terminal in Ceyhan. The aim of this project is to provide an alternative route for Russian and Kazakhstani oil and to ease the traffic burden in the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.

The Samsun–Ceyhan pipeline was planned as a Bosphorus bypass. At the beginning of the 2000s, Tun Oil filed for construction of a pipeline from Samsun through Sivas to Ceyhan. In 2003, the Italian energy company Eni studied possible oil transport routes from the North Caspian area. In 2004, based on the pre-feasibility study, the Samsun–Ceyhan route was selected. Another partner in the project, Turkish company Çalık Enerji, carried out technical and commercial studies, and filed for the construction licence on 31 March 2004. One of the route alternatives involved connecting the Kirikkale refinery; however, this option was rejected.

On 26 September 2005, Eni and Çalık Enerji signed a Memorandum of Understanding for their joint cooperation in the project. A pipeline feasibility study was completed in March 2006. The construction licence was granted in June 2006. The Front End Engineering Design Phase was completed at the beginning of 2007, and the ground-breaking ceremony, attended by the Italian Minister for Economic Development Pierluigi Bersani and the Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Güler, was held in Ceyhan on 24 April 2007. In 2008, it was decided to move the starting point from Terme in Samsun Province to Ünye in Ordu Province.