AI
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 6:18:55 PM
Bush will attack Iran on this pipeline proposal. If possible he cannot let this pass, there are some heavy consequences attached to this route.
Bush is depending on a significant amount of Kazakhstan oil to feed his U.S. backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and can’t be happy at the prospect of the Kazakhstan/China pipeline or that fact that the pipeline could be extended to Kazakhstan's even richer oil fields in the Caspian Sea area.
#msg-4186355
In addition Kazakhstan is now proposing exporting its oil via Iran. This would be a "north/south" pipeline. The United States vehemently opposes "north/south" pipelines.
I would look for more jostling over the Strait of Hormuz.
#msg-3136614
Background:
The Caspian Sea is landlocked, and far from any of the world industrial centers. This oil must be transported out of the region by pipeline--through politically explosive and contested areas. Whoever controls the pipes ultimately controls the oil.
Russia proposed to build a new northern pipeline parallel to the old pipeline from Baku to Novorossisk--and to expand companion pipelines from Tengiz to Novorossisk.
Iran proposed a southern pipeline over its territory--from Baku to the Iranian oil terminal on Kharg Island. This route would make the Caspian Sea into a hinterland of the Persian Gulf--and would secure the position of Iran and other Persian Gulf countries in the center of the world oil economy.
Some oil companies supported this Iranian plan because the Iranian route was estimated to be the cheapest. They also argued that this pipeline would give them more power within Iran--strengthening imperialist control over that important country.
The U.S.--and specifically the Clinton White House--was determined to oppose any "north/south" pipelines. The White House adopted a plan, cooked up by long-time ruling class strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski, to create an "east-west" pipe which would bypass both Russia and Iran.
The U.S. intends to strip Russia of control over this oil. And the U.S. wants the Caspian oilfields to be completely independent of the Persian Gulf--to diminish the importance of Persian Gulf states in the world economy.
The U.S.-proposed pipeline would start in Baku--traveling west through Azerbaijan. It would deliberately take a detour around Armenia--a country allied with Russia. The pipeline would circle into Georgia, and then travel southwest across Turkey. Most of its length would be through the Kurdish areas of Turkey--where there has been ongoing armed struggle against the Turkish oppression of Kurds. And the pipeline would end in a port near Ceyhan on the eastern Mediterranean.
U.S. planners propose a second pipeline --for natural gas--traveling over 1,000 miles from Turkmenistan to the Turkish city of Erzurum.
#msg-3775550
-Am
Kazakhstan reiterates interest in exporting oil via Iran
05.10.2004 09:38:00 GMT
Astana. (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - Kazakhstan has reiterated its interest in exporting its oil via Iran, Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said at a meeting with Iran's Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariat-Madari on Monday in Astana.
"We have very good prospects for developing the transport of oil. We can transport oil via our ports [on the Caspian Sea] and can ship by rail along the coast on our foreign border," Akhmetov said.
"We obviously need to do a lot of work" on this issue, he said.
Akhmetov said that relations between the two countries "are developing quite well." Mutual trade turnover was some $400 million in 2000 and was already some $370 million in the first half of 2004, Akhmetov said. "This is a good factor," he said.
Kazakhstan is delivering its oil to Iran according to a SWAP scheme. The state-owned oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz and Canada's PetroKazakhstan are delivering fuel according to this scheme.
Kazakhstan supplies oil by tanker through the Caspian to the Iranian port of Neka, and in exchange receives the equivalent at an Iranian port of Kharq in the Persian Gulf.
In turn, PetroKazakhstan currently supplies oil to Teheran Oil Refinery by rail only, but plans to set up regular oil supplies to Iran through the Caspian. In exchange the company will receive light Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf.
In 2003 oil supplies from Kazakhstan amounted to 50,000 bpd, of which KazMunaiGaz accounted for 30,000 bpd and PetroKazakhstan - 20,000 bpd.
KazMunaiGaz announced earlier that it plans to increase oil delivers to Iran to 2 million tonnes of oil under the same scheme in 2004, while PetroKazakhstan will supply 1 million tonnes.
http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Kaz&pg=0&id=5759930&req=
Bush is depending on a significant amount of Kazakhstan oil to feed his U.S. backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and can’t be happy at the prospect of the Kazakhstan/China pipeline or that fact that the pipeline could be extended to Kazakhstan's even richer oil fields in the Caspian Sea area.
#msg-4186355
In addition Kazakhstan is now proposing exporting its oil via Iran. This would be a "north/south" pipeline. The United States vehemently opposes "north/south" pipelines.
I would look for more jostling over the Strait of Hormuz.
#msg-3136614
Background:
The Caspian Sea is landlocked, and far from any of the world industrial centers. This oil must be transported out of the region by pipeline--through politically explosive and contested areas. Whoever controls the pipes ultimately controls the oil.
Russia proposed to build a new northern pipeline parallel to the old pipeline from Baku to Novorossisk--and to expand companion pipelines from Tengiz to Novorossisk.
Iran proposed a southern pipeline over its territory--from Baku to the Iranian oil terminal on Kharg Island. This route would make the Caspian Sea into a hinterland of the Persian Gulf--and would secure the position of Iran and other Persian Gulf countries in the center of the world oil economy.
Some oil companies supported this Iranian plan because the Iranian route was estimated to be the cheapest. They also argued that this pipeline would give them more power within Iran--strengthening imperialist control over that important country.
The U.S.--and specifically the Clinton White House--was determined to oppose any "north/south" pipelines. The White House adopted a plan, cooked up by long-time ruling class strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski, to create an "east-west" pipe which would bypass both Russia and Iran.
The U.S. intends to strip Russia of control over this oil. And the U.S. wants the Caspian oilfields to be completely independent of the Persian Gulf--to diminish the importance of Persian Gulf states in the world economy.
The U.S.-proposed pipeline would start in Baku--traveling west through Azerbaijan. It would deliberately take a detour around Armenia--a country allied with Russia. The pipeline would circle into Georgia, and then travel southwest across Turkey. Most of its length would be through the Kurdish areas of Turkey--where there has been ongoing armed struggle against the Turkish oppression of Kurds. And the pipeline would end in a port near Ceyhan on the eastern Mediterranean.
U.S. planners propose a second pipeline --for natural gas--traveling over 1,000 miles from Turkmenistan to the Turkish city of Erzurum.
#msg-3775550
-Am
Kazakhstan reiterates interest in exporting oil via Iran
05.10.2004 09:38:00 GMT
Astana. (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - Kazakhstan has reiterated its interest in exporting its oil via Iran, Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said at a meeting with Iran's Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariat-Madari on Monday in Astana.
"We have very good prospects for developing the transport of oil. We can transport oil via our ports [on the Caspian Sea] and can ship by rail along the coast on our foreign border," Akhmetov said.
"We obviously need to do a lot of work" on this issue, he said.
Akhmetov said that relations between the two countries "are developing quite well." Mutual trade turnover was some $400 million in 2000 and was already some $370 million in the first half of 2004, Akhmetov said. "This is a good factor," he said.
Kazakhstan is delivering its oil to Iran according to a SWAP scheme. The state-owned oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz and Canada's PetroKazakhstan are delivering fuel according to this scheme.
Kazakhstan supplies oil by tanker through the Caspian to the Iranian port of Neka, and in exchange receives the equivalent at an Iranian port of Kharq in the Persian Gulf.
In turn, PetroKazakhstan currently supplies oil to Teheran Oil Refinery by rail only, but plans to set up regular oil supplies to Iran through the Caspian. In exchange the company will receive light Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf.
In 2003 oil supplies from Kazakhstan amounted to 50,000 bpd, of which KazMunaiGaz accounted for 30,000 bpd and PetroKazakhstan - 20,000 bpd.
KazMunaiGaz announced earlier that it plans to increase oil delivers to Iran to 2 million tonnes of oil under the same scheme in 2004, while PetroKazakhstan will supply 1 million tonnes.
http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Kaz&pg=0&id=5759930&req=
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