Russia and Turkey will build an oil refinery in the Mediterranean to maximize profits from a joint pipeline project, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Tuesday.
“We want to build a major refinery and jointly sell oil products from the Mediterranean coast,” he said.
The comment follows a deal between Italy, Russia and Turkey last week under which Russia agreed to participate in building a pipeline from the Turkish Black Sea port of Samsun to Ceyhan in the Mediterranean.
Russia and Kazakhstan also said they would supply crude for the new link, which is designed to reduce tanker traffic through Turkey’s narrow and busy Black Sea straits.
Italy’s Eni and Turkey’s Calik hold 50 percent each in the 550-kilometer pipeline, which will have a maximum capacity of 1.5 million barrels a day.
“I think [this project] is a new rising star,” Shmatko said.
Russia’s 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.
Russia is keen to have South Stream built ahead of the rival EU-backed Nabucco gas pipeline, which wants to transit Azeri and central Asian gas to southern Europe via Turkey.
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