Turkey is limiting Russian oil transport through the Bosporus Straits and boosting its own interest in the construction of a pipeline from Baku on the Caspian Sea to the Turkish terminal at Ceyhan, which would also by-pass Russia. #msg-3518781
Russia is being squeezed in their efforts to get their oil and gas to market.
This could be one reason Russia is developing military cooperation with Serbia & Montnegro. Russia possibly could obtain an export route for their oil and gas through the Balkans.
The trans-Balkan pipeline passes through what is known as corridor 8--traversing very near the borders between Macedonia, Kosovo and the Presevo Valley. (see map) Furthermore, it is to be connected with another series of pipelines, some of them Soviet-era pipelines. A major one of these will pass down the Presevo Valley--known as corridor 10-- connecting with the AMBO pipeline precisely at these same critical borders. This system of pipelines not only is designed to transport petroleum to sea ports for shipping abroad, but extends into the heart of Europe. Two branches of the AMBO line jut into Greece--one to Thessalonika, the other to a terminal on the west coast.
It needs to be noted that the Bosporus is a huge trans-shipment point for oil. In 2003, Russia complained bitterly that passage through Turkey was far too slow for Urals crude. The establishment of a permanent U.S./NATO base, Camp Bondsteel, in Kosovo after the NATO-engineered breakup of Yugoslavia (with the assistance of the heroin-funded "Kosovo Liberation Army") paved the way for U.S. oil companies operating in the Caspian region (which has since turned into the biggest oil bust in recent history) to bypass the Bosporus. This was a huge political betrayal for Turkey - a NATO member state - which deepened Turkish suspicions about their European allies.
Bondsteel was built (it should be no surprise) by Halliburton, Dick Cheney's company. #msg-3518781
All of this has to do with the enormously rich petroleum fields of the Caspian Sea basin. In order to get that oil to market, one of the best routes is to pipe it to the Black Sea, ship it in tankers across the sea, and then pipe it again across the Balkans to the Adriatic Sea. This by-passes the treacherous narrow Bosporus Straits near Istanbul, which Turkey claims could not safely accommodate the heavy tanker traffic from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. By restricting this route, Turkey is also limiting Russian oil transport through the straits and boosting its own interest in the construction of a pipeline from Baku on the Caspian Sea to the Turkish terminal at Ceyhan, which would also by-pass Russia. This route also has fluctuating support by the U.S.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
