Photo: AFP
Posted on 09/18/2002 9:12:32 AM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
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Photo: AFP |
SANGACHAL, Azerbaijan (AFP) - The inaugural section of an oil pipeline that will pump crude from the Caspian Sea to Turkey's Mediterranean coast was laid in Azerbaijan, marking the start of construction on the US-backed project.
The 2.95-billion-dollar (3.05-billion-euro) pipeline heralds a US-backed challenge to Russia's stranglehold on export routes from the oil-rich Caspian.
In a ceremony near Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, heads of state from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey -- Heidar Aliyev, Eduard Shevardnadze and Ahmet Necdet Sezer -- watched as a length of steel pipe was lowered into the ground.
"The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline will take shape from this moment on," Aliyev said at the ceremony at the Sangachal terminal which will be the starting point for the pipeline once it is completed in 2005.
US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham also took part in the ceremony and signalled President George W. Bush's strong support for the project.
"Without this pipeline the resources of the Caspian Sea would have remained undeveloped and unavailable to world markets," he said.
"The BTC pipeline is a central component in an east-west energy corridor which will bring far-reaching benefits to the countries of this region and to the rest of the world."
The Caspian Sea holds the world's third-largest reserves of oil and gas but two of the three existing oil export pipelines go through Russian territory -- a situation Washington believes is harmful for global energy security.
The BTC pipeline will pump up to one million barrels of crude a day along the 1,750 kilometres (more than 1,000 miles) from Azerbaijan, through neighbouring Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
That is roughly the same distance as from New York to Miami or from London to southern Spain.
The project was first proposed eight years ago but it has been delayed by political wrangling and arguments about its commercial viability. Until recently there were doubts that it would ever be built.
Many oil industry insiders criticised the project for being driven by political considerations instead of economic realities.
The pipeline was chosen ahead of two alternative routes for exporting Caspian oil, via Iran or Russia. Both would have been shorter and cheaper but were not politically acceptable to Washington.
Moscow has wanted nothing to do with the BTC project and officials there have repeatedly said it does not make economic sense.
Georgian officials claimed this week that Russia's dislike for the pipeline was the real reason behind threats by Moscow to launch bombing raids into northern Georgia in pursuit of Islamic rebels there.
For Azerbaijan, an impoverished former Soviet republic, the BTC pipeline means desperately needed revenues from the sale of its oil. Georgia's state budget will also benefit from transit fees.
The pipeline is being financed and built by an international consortium led by oil major BP and also comprising Azeri state oil company SOCAR, Statoil, Unocal, TPAO, Eni Agip, Total Fina Elf, Itochu and Amerada Hess.
Whoa yes....I hear it loud and clear.
Thanks for the heads up.
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