Tweet
This is London, UK
May 25 2005
Pipeline to end reliance on Middle East oil
By Lech Mintowt-czyz, Evening Standard
An oil pipeline intended to sweep away decades of western reliance on
the Middle East was opened today.
The 1,094-mile line from the landlocked Caspian Sea to the
Mediterranean is designed to free the region's huge potential
reserves of oil - thought to be the third largest on the planet.
Analysts hope the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project will supply more than
one per cent of the world's oil needs within months and help develop
capacity to six million barrels a day, eight per cent of the total
required, within five years.
The pipeline, which is 30 per cent owned by BP, will eventually feed
from an underground reserve capable of holding 220billion barrels of
oil, enough to meet current needs for eight years.
At an opening ceremony today at the Sangachal oil terminal, 25 miles
south of the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the first drops of oil were
pumped into the £2.2 billion pipeline, which will take five months to
fill along its whole length.
The first shipment of Caspian oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan is
expected before the end of the year.
At the opening US energy secretary Samuel Bodman said: "This is a
contribution towards an increased supply in oil in the world. It adds
a new supplier of some consequence. We view this as a significant
step forward in the energy security of that region." Azerbaijan
president Ilham Aliyev added: "The whole region needs this pipeline."
Described by BP as the "world's biggest energy scheme", the pipeline
passes the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and eastern Turkey to the port
of Ceyhan, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Azerbaijan will earn taxes and royalties on the oil, while Georgia
and Turkey are to profit from transit fees.
It is thought the wider Caspian region has oil reserves bigger than
those in both American continents, with the potential to provide the
west's oil needs for 50 years. There are also proven reserves of gas
at least as large as those controlled by Saudi Arabia.
The project, which took 10 years to design and build, runs through
some of the most inhospitable terrain and politically volatile
territory in the region.
In Azerbaijan, it goes close to a ceasefire line with Armenia where
there are still frequent clashes over a territorial dispute. Georgia
is fighting separatist conflicts while in Turkey the pipeline skirts
the Kurdish heartlands.
In an attempt to prevent sabotage the line has been buried several
metres underground for most of its length and will be guarded by
local police forces.
There have also been tensions with Russia, which feels it has been
cut out of the deal.
May 25 2005
Pipeline to end reliance on Middle East oil
By Lech Mintowt-czyz, Evening Standard
An oil pipeline intended to sweep away decades of western reliance on
the Middle East was opened today.
The 1,094-mile line from the landlocked Caspian Sea to the
Mediterranean is designed to free the region's huge potential
reserves of oil - thought to be the third largest on the planet.
Analysts hope the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project will supply more than
one per cent of the world's oil needs within months and help develop
capacity to six million barrels a day, eight per cent of the total
required, within five years.
The pipeline, which is 30 per cent owned by BP, will eventually feed
from an underground reserve capable of holding 220billion barrels of
oil, enough to meet current needs for eight years.
At an opening ceremony today at the Sangachal oil terminal, 25 miles
south of the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the first drops of oil were
pumped into the £2.2 billion pipeline, which will take five months to
fill along its whole length.
The first shipment of Caspian oil from the Turkish port of Ceyhan is
expected before the end of the year.
At the opening US energy secretary Samuel Bodman said: "This is a
contribution towards an increased supply in oil in the world. It adds
a new supplier of some consequence. We view this as a significant
step forward in the energy security of that region." Azerbaijan
president Ilham Aliyev added: "The whole region needs this pipeline."
Described by BP as the "world's biggest energy scheme", the pipeline
passes the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and eastern Turkey to the port
of Ceyhan, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Azerbaijan will earn taxes and royalties on the oil, while Georgia
and Turkey are to profit from transit fees.
It is thought the wider Caspian region has oil reserves bigger than
those in both American continents, with the potential to provide the
west's oil needs for 50 years. There are also proven reserves of gas
at least as large as those controlled by Saudi Arabia.
The project, which took 10 years to design and build, runs through
some of the most inhospitable terrain and politically volatile
territory in the region.
In Azerbaijan, it goes close to a ceasefire line with Armenia where
there are still frequent clashes over a territorial dispute. Georgia
is fighting separatist conflicts while in Turkey the pipeline skirts
the Kurdish heartlands.
In an attempt to prevent sabotage the line has been buried several
metres underground for most of its length and will be guarded by
local police forces.
There have also been tensions with Russia, which feels it has been
cut out of the deal.