### Bosporus Bypass

Even with the additional costs of using LR-2 tankers or the construction of a $1 billion Bosporus bypass, the Baku-Supsa route is considerably cheaper than Baku-Ceyhan, though a bypass route is cheaper than a direct Baku-Ceyhan line. Overland pipeline bypass options that have been considered run from the Turkish Black Sea ports of Samsun or Zonguldak to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. These would utilize a combination of new and existing lines or building completely new lines running from Turkish Thrace out to the Aegean Sea. One non-Turkish option is to send oil through Bourgas in Bulgaria to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.

There is also a proposal to ship oil by tanker from Supsa or Novorossiysk to Samsun on the northern Turkish Black Sea coast and then pipe the oil to Ceyhan. A Samsun-Ceyhan line would be able to utilize some existing pipe to Ceyhan and avoid the Bosporus, but would be more expensive than a Thrace bypass, although cheaper than a direct Baku-Ceyhan line. Considering the economic advantages of the other routes, Baku-Ceyhan does not appear to be a legitimate economic option to avoid the Bosporus.

Baku-Supsa-Thrace (800 kb/d) | Cost / b
Lifting costs at AIOC | $5.00
Pipeline to Supsa | $0.68
Georgian Transit Fee | $0.43
Tanker to Thrace | $0.40
Thrace Bypass | $0.59
Shipping to Rotterdam, VLCC | $0.76
Subtotal | $7.86

Bypass Options: Transport Costs of Caspian Oil
Route from Baku, Tanker Size | Cost per barrel | Cost as % of Bypass | Route from Tengiz, Tanker Size | Cost per barrel | Cost as % of Bypass
Supsa, LR-2 | $1.83 | 93% | Novorossiysk, LR-2 | $2.25 | 93%
Supsa-Turkish Bypass, VLCC | $2.01 | 100% | Novorossiysk-Turkish Bypass, VLCC | $2.43 | 100%
Supsa-Samsun- Ceyhan, VLCC | $2.54 | 126% | Novorossiysk-Samsun- Ceyhan, VlCC | $2.96 | 122%
Bkau-Ceyhan, VLCC | $3.02 | 150% |  |  |

Bosporus Bypass Links