IOC in deal with ENI, Calik on Turk pipeline http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-11-02T173005Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-274709-1.xml
Thu Nov 2, 2006
ISTANBUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Indian Oil Corp. has signed a deal with Turkish Calik Energy and Italy's Eni on joining a project to build an oil pipeline between Turkey's Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts, the consortium said. The pipeline, estimated to cost $1.5 billion, will carry oil between Samsun on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, bypassing the congested Turkish straits. Royal Dutch Shell previously signed a deal on joining the project.
"Eni and Calik Energy have signed an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation Limited on its probable participation...in the Trans Anatolian Pipeline Project," the companies said in a joint statement.
The pipeline will initially have a capacity of one million barrels per day (bpd), with plans for it to rise to 1.5 million bpd.
Turkey chose Calik to build the 550 km pipeline in April and gave the company and its partner Eni six months to complete its engineering and design studies. The pipeline will pump 75 million tonnes of oil a year. Delays at the Turkish straits have added to shipping costs for exports of Urals blend crude from Black Sea ports. When weather is bad, ships can be delayed for weeks.
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