The ground breaking ceremony for the Trans Anatolian Oil Pipeline,linking Samsun at Turkey’s Black Sea Coast  with the Medirerranean Ceyhan port was held on 24 April 2007. The pipeline will be built by a company jointly owned by EN1 and Çalık Enerji. The pipeline will follow Baku- Tbilissi – Ceyhan pipeline’s right of way and crude oil will be delivered to the existing Ceyhan loading Terminal.

This projected pipeline attests to Turkey’s importance as an energy hub. The participation of the Italian energy firm EN1 is also in line with Europe’s growing interest in diversifying its energy supply routes.It is no wonder that EU Energy Commissioner welcomed this new pipeline.

Let us first look at the general situation in the world as far as oil and gas is concerned.On the one hand, there are major new buyers of oil and gas, such as China and India. On the other, the producers are mainly Russia and Saudi Arabia.In betweeen, there are consumer and provider countries like Turkey, involved in major pipeline schemes. For producers, energy security means principally security of demand. For consumers, it is assured supply, free from interruption, at low prices. Many analysts say that the last century was dominated by oil, and this  century will be one of natural gas. Analysts also draw our attention that there are renewed fears of the use of oil and gas in power politics. Indeed, the world oil demand will grow from 80 million barrels per day in 2003 to 118 million barrels per day 2030. Consumption of natural gas will increase from 95 trillion cubic feet in 2003 to 182 trillion cubic feet im 2030.

We may now consider the situation within the EU, upon which Turkey will have a definite impact in oil and  gas. The Commission Green Paper in November 2000 on security of energy supply predicted that, if no action was taken, the EU’s energy dependency would climb from 50% in 2000 to 70% in 2030.

The debate on the need for a European energy policy started again in 2006, because of the rising oil and gas prices and Europe’s increasing dependency on a few external suppliers. (They are mainly OPEC and Russia) The Ukraine-Russia gas dispute in January 2006 has certainly gave an urgency to the problem. That is how the EU Commission opened the debate with the publication of a Green Paper in March 2006. The Commission Green Paper lists six key priority areas, mainly on technical issues, but also emphasizes the need for a common external energy policy. In May 2006, the Commission and the Secretary General/High Representative issued a joint paper on “an external policy to serve Europe’s energy interests”. The paper considered how EU external relations, including CFSP, can be used more effectively to secure reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy. The guiding principles they adopt mainly relate to what can be done in the third countries. As to practical means they propose two building blocks: functioning markets and diversification. To diversify energy sources, geographical origin and transit routes, the EU should facilitate the maintenance and upgrade of existing energy infrastructure in neighboring countries of key importance to the EU. The attention is drawn to the gas projects in North Africa, Middle East, Caspian region, Russia and Norway which will create new energy corridors. To obtain the desired results, it is proposed to engage with producer, transit and consumer countries. Bilateral, regional and multilateral initiatives are considered. At bilateral level, a comprehensive agreement with Russia, partnerships with Norway and Algeria cooperation with other producer and consumer countries are foreseen. For Turkey the proposal is the following: “Help Turkey to make full use of its potential to become a major energy transit hub and in particular promote its rapid integration with the Energy Community Treaty.” The debate culminated when the Commission presented a strategic energy review in January 2007 and the EU heads of states and governments adopted an Action Plan in March 2007.The Commission Communication ‘Energy Policy for Europe’ on (10.1.2007) emphasized building up energy relations with EU’s neighbors. It has indicated that it was imperative to facilitate the transport of Caspian energy resources to the EU- Turkey as a partner in the energy field, and Nabucco gas pipeline are mentioned. The Action Plan covers the period of 2007-2009. It foresees an effective diversification of energy sources and transport routes.

In view of the general outlook in the energy field the pipeline routes assume greater role- Turkey is well situated and well served on this score. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline carries Azeri oil to the Turkish Mediterranean port. The Blue Stream gas pipeline delivers Russian gas to Turkey from under the Black Sea. As the Samsun-Ceyhan projects shows Turkey is the proper transit route for the oil and gas.