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Moscow, August 5 (Interfax) - Russia and Turkey are to set up a working group that will study the feasibility of building the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

The working group will be set up as part of an agreement on cooperation in the oil sphere that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan are expected to sign in Ankara on Thursday, deputy government head Yury Ushakov told journalists.

The group will be comprised of representatives of various organizations as well as experts who will study the resource base and transport parameters of the project since "it's still not clear from where and how to get oil for this pipeline," Ushakov said.

The decision to involve Russia in the project was initiated by Turkey, he said.

During the visit, Rosneft and Aksa Energy are also expected to sign a memorandum on cooperation, he said.

Italy's Eni S.p.A. launched construction on the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline, which will transport oil from Turkey to the European market, in late April 2009. The 555-kilometer pipeline will have capacity to carry 1.5 million barrels per day.

The Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline will run from the Black Sea port of Samsun to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. It will make it possible to bypass the Bosphorus strait and the Dardanelles strait on the Black Sea in transporting oil.