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Evening Standard, UK
May 25 2005
Oil pipeline to end Middle East 'rule'
Lech Mintowt-Czyx, 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
1% of the world's oil needs within months and help develop capacity
to 6m barrels a day, 8% of the total required, within five years.
The pipeline, which is 30% owned by BP, will eventually feed from an
underground reserve capable of holding 220bn 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 £2.2bn 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
Oil pipeline to end Middle East 'rule'
Lech Mintowt-Czyx, 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
1% of the world's oil needs within months and help develop capacity
to 6m barrels a day, 8% of the total required, within five years.
The pipeline, which is 30% owned by BP, will eventually feed from an
underground reserve capable of holding 220bn 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 £2.2bn 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.