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Kazakhstan willing to pump oil into pipeline via Turkey

© RIA Novosti . Илья ПиталевNursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Nazarbayev - Sputnik International
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Kazakhstan's president confirmed on Thursday that his country is willing to pump crude into a planned $1.5-billion pipeline to bring Caspian oil to the Mediterranean via Turkey.

ANKARA, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan's president confirmed on Thursday that his country is willing to pump crude into a planned $1.5-billion pipeline to bring Caspian oil to the Mediterranean via Turkey.

Addressing Turkey's parliament, Nursultan Nazarbayev said: "We along with Russia are ready to join the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline project."

His statement came after a video conference between St. Petersburg and Ankara earlier on Thursday, when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, of Kazakhstan's possible role.

"Our Kazakh colleagues have expressed readiness for joint work to fill this oil pipeline system," Putin said at the conference, also involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who met with his Russian counterpart in St. Petersburg for talks focusing on cooperation in car manufacture and agriculture.

Three Russian oil companies - state-run Rosneft, oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and shipping firm Sovcomflot - signed a deal in Milan on Monday with Turkey's Calik Enerji and Italy's Eni S.p.A. on the pipeline with projected capacity of 60-70 million metric tons a year (1.2-1.4 million bbl/d).

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Rosneft chairman Igor Sechin said other producers, including LUKoil, have also shown an interest in supplying oil via the pipeline.

The pipeline is designed to reduce the oil transportation load on the Bosporus Strait liking the Black and Mediterranean and the Dardanelles on the Marmara Sea, which handles some 150 million tons (1.1 billion bbl) annually.

The Kazakh leader said his country is willing to contribute to Turkey's drive to strengthen its role as a transit hub for oil and gas.

Turkey, which sits at the energy crossroads of Russia, Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, signed two more energy deals with Russia and the EU earlier this year, fueling concerns in Moscow and Brussels of growing dependence on Ankara.

In August, Turkey allowed Russia's Gazprom to use its sector of the Black Sea for the South Stream gas pipeline to Europe, bypassing Ukraine. In July, the country signed a deal on the EU-backed rival pipeline Nabucco.

Speaking to Putin and Berlusconi on Thursday, Erdogan thanked them for contribution to energy security in Turkey and Europe.

 

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