Putin defends Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline

SOCHI, Russia, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Moscow stands by plans to build an oil pipeline from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean despite company complaints, the Russian prime minister said.

Moscow is part of a three-member consortium that plans to build the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline from the Black Sea to ports on Mediterranean Sea.

Russia's state-owned pipeline operator Transneft expressed "dissatisfaction" with attempts by Ankara to steer the project.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told delegates at an international forum in Russia, however, that the Kremlin was committed to the project, Turkey's daily newspaper Hurriyet reports.

"We have given our promise to Turkey," he was quoted as saying. "As it has already been planned, Russian companies will continue working during all phases of the project."

The $2.5 million project will carry as much as 1.5 million barrels of oil per day along an overland route. The land route of the pipeline would play a role in diminishing the environment impact and risks associated with tanker traffic in the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, supporters say.

Italian energy company ENI signed a memorandum of understanding on the pipeline with its Russian and Turkish counterparts in 2009.

The 340-mile oil pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2012.