On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Max Sawicky wrote:
> A not necessarily reliable source tells me it would take 100 years for
> the country to be sufficiently pacified to host a pipeline.
Carlos Bulgheroni (the Chairman of Bridas), on the other hand, was already ready to run a pipeline in the time of the warlords, pre-1994. And all indications are that he would have, too, if Unocal hadn't come it and scuppered his deal just as he was about to sign with Turkmenistan. He seemed perfectly sure the warlords could be bought retail for the same price or less than he'd have had to pay in government fees. (And unlike most oil men, he actually seemed to know some warlords. He seems like an interesting character.) The only thing that stopped him was Unocal muscling in, which made him furious, since they couldn't do his deal, they could only stop him, because, being a US publicly held company, they could only do a deal in a country that had a US-recognized government -- a restriction that Bridas, as an Argentinian privately held company, didn't have. Which is why Unocal pushed, ultimately in vain, to get the US to recognize the Taliban. Danger to the pipeline does not seem to have been an overriding concern for either company.
[Ahmed Rashid is the only possible source for this story because, according to him, the interview Bulgheroni gave him on the subject is the only public interview he gave to anyone during the 90s. I personally think his understandable pride in his own scoop has led him to put a bit more emphasis on this tale than it really deserves ever since.]
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com