Hormuz risks raise Ceyhan’s potential as global oil hub

ANKARA

(BOTAŞ)

Rising supply risks in the Strait of Hormuz are increasing the importance of alternative oil export routes, with Türkiye’s southern district of Ceyhan emerging as a potential hub for global crude oil and petroleum products trade.

“We can turn Ceyhan into a Rotterdam. This is our goal. We aim to transform Ceyhan into a center where oil and petroleum products are stored, traded and priced,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar had said.

One of the main sources of crude oil reaching the Ceyhan Marine Terminal is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline, which begins at Azerbaijan’s Sangachal Terminal on the Caspian Sea coast and extends through Georgia into Türkiye. The pipeline currently transports an average of around 600,000 barrels of oil per day to Ceyhan.

Another key supply route is the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline, which starts from the oil fields around Kirkuk and reaches the Ceyhan Marine Terminal through northern Iraq and Türkiye. The route has a current transportation capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day.

Following supply and shipment problems linked to the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq has moved to make greater use of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan route. Exports of Kirkuk crude through Ceyhan resumed in March 2026, with up to 250,000 barrels per day expected to be transported to the terminal.

In addition, Türkiye and Iraq signed a new one-year oil agreement on Aug. 1 to ensure the effective utilization of the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline. The agreement envisages the flow of 750,000 barrels of oil per day to Ceyhan Port.

Serving as Türkiye’s gateway to the Mediterranean and global markets, Ceyhan is increasingly viewed as a major energy hub candidate due to its pipeline infrastructure, operational capabilities and expansion potential.

Approximately 600,000 barrels of oil reach Ceyhan Port daily through the BTC Pipeline, which also has around 400,000 barrels per day of unused transportation capacity.

If this spare capacity is utilized, the volume of oil delivered to Ceyhan via the BTC Pipeline could rise to around 1 million barrels per day.

In addition to crude oil from northern Iraq, Ceyhan is also being considered as a future export outlet for oil resources in southern Iraq.

Iraq’s proposed Basra-Haditha pipeline project aims to transport crude from the southern Basra region to northern Iraq and onward to various export points, including Ceyhan. The project’s total transportation capacity is planned to reach as much as 2.5 million barrels per day.

As a result, Ceyhan could develop a potential oil trading volume of between 3 million and 3.5 million barrels per day. This would correspond to approximately 3 to 3.5 percent of global oil demand.

Storage tanks and facilities dedicated to petroleum and petroleum products in Ceyhan are also considered key elements supporting this potential.

Alongside existing infrastructure, the development of petrochemical facilities and refinery investments in the region is seen as a way to transform Ceyhan into a major trading center for oil and petroleum products.

The pipelines running from Silopi to Ceyhan currently have a transportation capacity of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Another factor strengthening Ceyhan’s potential is the increase in Türkiye’s domestic oil production.
With daily oil production in the Gabar region of Şırnak exceeding 80,000 barrels, a significant portion of output is being transported to Ceyhan through the Silopi-Ceyhan pipeline, enabling Türkiye’s own crude oil to reach international markets via the Mediterranean.

The increase in production at Gabar is enhancing the importance of the Silopi-Ceyhan route and strengthening Ceyhan’s potential to become a strategic export outlet for Türkiye’s growing oil output.