According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the oil production in the Caspian region may reach 3.9 million barrel a day in 2010. The estimated early production in the region will reach 1 million barrel a day in a few years. That means, this giant oil production must be transported to the market. The most suitable and the cheapest way of oil transportation is pipeline. Because of that, several pipelines will probably be constructed in the Caucasian region . But building long distance pipelines takes long time. However, in few years, the Bosphorus can not handle the potential shipping volumes from the Caspian region. The limitations of the Bosphorus are not suitable to allow that huge transportation. Therefore, step by step, different alternatives should be used. The transportation of the Caspian production can be divided into stages related to short term, middle term and long term: 1. Oil through the Bosphorus strait using tankers from the existing Baku- Novorossisk pipeline and the Baku-Supsa pipeline (short term solution). 2. Oil across Trakia (Kiyikoy-Ibrice /Turkey) after 3 years (middle term solution). 3. Oil through Baku-Ceyhan pipeline (long term solution) The paper has highlighted on the middle term solution and it is suggested that feasibility studies should be carried out soon to prepare for the increased production from the Caspian Sea.
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