Turkey's importance in the energy market grows as a regional
transit hub given its location between the oil rich Middle East,
Caspian region, and Europe. Turkey is the home of the Bosporus and
Dardanelles connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. In 2013,
approximately, 2.8 to 3.0 million barrels of crude oil and
petroleum products passed per day through the straits. In addition
to the straits, Turkey has two international crude oil pipelines
carrying oil from Iraq (Kirkuk-Ceyhan) and Azerbaijan
(Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) to the Ceyhan oil terminal in the Iskenderun
bay as well as four international natural gas pipelines. In 2012,
Azerbaijan and Iraq exported a combined 900,000 barrels of oil per
day through Ceyhan oil terminal. Currently, a new natural gas
pipeline project colloquially termed "Turkish Stream" is
being discussed with Russia. Turkish Stream would be an alternative
to the cancelled South Stream line. Besides becoming a growing
transit hub, Turkey is also
