Central Asian Oil Chronology - 1998 http://www.eia.doe.gov/ United States Energy Information Administration
January 1999 Monthly Energy Chronology - 1998
The following chronology lists international events of potential significance for world petroleum markets. Sources include: Dow Jones (DJ), the New York Times (NYT), the Washington Post (WP), and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). January 12 The Albanian government awards oil exploration blocks to two international oil consortia, one led by Austria's OMV and the other led by an Albanian subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum. OMV and its United Kingdom partners Enterprise Oil and Clyde Gas have received two blocks in the south and one in central north Albania. Meanwhile, Occidental and its partner International Petroleum Corporation have received two blocks in the south and one in the north. Although the production-sharing agreements still need to be approved by the Albanian government, drilling is expected to begin in mid-1998. (DJ) January 22 Statoil, Norway's state-owned energy company, reports that 10 drilling services contracts have been awarded to companies holding production sharing contracts in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan. The 10 contracts, worth $110 million, have been awarded to Azdri MI, Schlumberger, Geoservices, Oceaneering, Baker Hughes Intec, Franks International and Security DBS. The first exploration well in the Shah Deniz area, where Statoil holds a 25.5 percent interest, is scheduled to be drilled in June 1998. (DJ) February 2 Western partners in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium have frozen funds for a $2 billion pipeline and are pushing for a shake-up in the Consortium's Russian-led management. The 900-mile pipeline will eventually transport 1.4 million barrels of oil per day from Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field through Russia to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Oil shipments were scheduled to begin in late 1999, but will likely be delayed at least one year as a result of this latest development. Continued funding of the project was contingent upon the Consortium obtaining Russian rights of way and various federal and local permits for the pipeline by the end of 1997. During a meeting in December 1997, the Western partners discovered that much of this work had not been completed. (WSJ) February 3 Azerbaijan's state oil company Socar and U.S.-based Conoco announce an agreement to conduct a joint study of Azerbaijan's natural gas processing industries. The study will examine the commercial viability of gathering, processing, and transporting Azerbaijan's natural gas and natural gas liquids for export and domestic use. The study will be conducted over a period of six months. (DJ) February 3 Russia's RAO Gazprom has sold its 10 percent stake in Centgas, a consortium set up to construct a $2 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan natural gas pipeline. U.S.-based Unocal Corporation acquired 7 percent of Gazprom's shares, bringing its total stake in the Centgas to 54 percent. The remaining 3 percent went to Japanese-owned Indonesia Petroleum and Itochu, South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, and Pakistan's Crescent Group. The 800-mile pipeline will extend from the Daulatabad gas field in southeastern Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. (DJ) February 9 Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze escapes an assassination attempt as he is headed home in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. This represents the second assassination attempt against him in three years. Shevardnadze is not injured, but two bodyguards are dead and four others seriously wounded.
Shevardnadze suggests that the attack could have been related to his country's attempt to be part of a pipeline route transporting Caspian Sea oil to the Black Sea. (WP)
bla, bla, bla...<snip>
Wanting to find some back up for something I heard long ago about Cuban troops protecting Gulf Oil pipelines against the Savimbi thugs in Angola in the late 70's, found the above. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Cuban+troops+protecting+Angola+Gulf+Oil +pipelines+
I don't discount the Oil factor, but wouldn't Afghanistan have to be occupied and/or massive bribes paid to the future Afghan Army to protect this pipeline?
(In this webtrawling, also found this from Z http://burn.ucsd.edu/archives/ats-l/1998.08/msg00015.html , which sez that the ELN, the other Columbian guerilla army, also has a penchant for bombing oil pipelines This is the text version of the PDF file http://www.stanley.gluck.com/PoliticsofYugoslavia.pdf. G o o g l e automatically generates text versions of PDF documents as we crawl the web. Michael Pugliese http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:-_q2VVyiMOs:www.stanley.gluck.com/Polit icsofYugoslavia.pdf+Cuban+troops+protecting+Angola+Gulf+Oil+pipelines+&hl=en