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