--- uvj at vsnl.com wrote:
>
> While the Western powers seem determined to
> undermine Russian positions economically and
> politically? e.g. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline as
> the following post "Pipeline breaks Russia grip on
> Caspian oil" shows.
>
I believe this is an incorrect interpretation of
events. In fact Russia is involved in the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. (PS I don't think the US
is trying to encircle Russia either.)
U.S. Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce :: :: BP, TNK-BP Discuss Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
BP, TNK-BP Discuss Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
06/15/2005
Baku. (Interfax) - British Petroleum and TNK-BP are discussing the possibility of transporting TNK-BP oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, BP Azerbaijan President David Woodward said.
He said that they have not yet reached the stage of discussing volumes and transport schedules and that they are only discussing transport options and possibilities.
He said that one potential option for transporting Russian oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline may be to reverse the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline to Baku. Woodward also said that it is possible to supply oil by sea from Astrakhan to Baku, for further transportation through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
http://www.usacc.org/news.php?nid=422&cid=0
Britain's anti-OPEC tendencies can perhaps be explained by the fact that British Petroleum (BP) is the main partner in the international consortium that built the BTC. BP is optimistic the pipeline will meet all expectations. Tony Hayward, BP's head of exploration and production told "The Wall Street Journal" on 25 May the pipeline "is opening up a new hydrocarbon province."
BP, however, is also a partner of the Russian oil company TNK, and as such is working to supply Europe with Russian oil as well. It seems fair to say that BP is playing both sides of the coin: ensuring that Russia has a large market for its oil in England and elsewhere in Europe -- and thus increasing the risk of monopoly -- while at the same time leading the forces opposed to a Russian energy blackmail scheme.
It was BP-TNK which, with the support of the Putin government, insisted in 2004 that the Odesa-Brody pipeline built in Ukraine to transport Caspian oil to Europe be used in the reverse direction, to transport BP-TNK oil to a terminal outside Odesa for tanker transport through the Bosporus -- thereby going against Western desires to limit tanker traffic through the straits.
http://rfe.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/5/206868A6-60CA-4F9A-81F0-DEA2F7FBC501.html
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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