Of course, the Georgians sit on the BlackSea--a "transit" nation for oil pipelines: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan(BTC) pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum (BTE) pipeline. Next door is Azerbaijan on the landlocked Caspian Sea. So the BTC takes crude out to the Mediterranean--uh huh.
About 6 years ago new analysis by BP showed a huge reserve under the Caspian basin, nearly 220 billion barrels by some estimtes, probably "only" 100billion. Now, that oil will go out over one of the the longest pipeline ever built--800 miles (+ -), an' underground to prevent sabotage . The BTC line can transport about 1 million barrels a day. What this does, Sweet Pets, is to untie the geopolitical Gordian Knot that Russia done tied over the basin. Now Georgia an Azerbaijan got theyselves some political and economic security. And-heh heh--it sends grandstandin' Iran to the penalty box: no longer necessary to go out via Iran and the Persian Gulf. Egypt reports that Iran will launch a missle attack on the BTC if Ahmadinejad catches cold.
The BTC Pipeline necessarily focuses Georgia and Azerbaijan toward Europe. (In the 1990s Russia tightly controlled transport and distribution of the oil. They made a good buck on transportin' oil to Euros--now the Georgians will get a hunk of that profit.) This pretty pipeline (loans granted by World Bank and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Devlopment) gives them nations jobs and cash. The Georgians need it and Europe needs the oil & gas. An' since it comes out over Turkey, ya sees why the Eurocrats want Turkey in the EU...oh yeah...Oh, an eventually the BTC will give Turkmenistan a route out for their natural gas on the world market, which --landlocked--they had been stuck wif sellin' cheap to the Rooskies.
AN', not to put too fine a point on thangs, the BTC is a key to US move away from so much mid-east oil.
So this thang will be a bellyache fer the USA on account of the Western/Euro focus of Georgian pipelines means we have a keen interest in the SECURITY of the pipelines. Heh heh.
Stories here , here, and here.
3 comments:
Time to stop calling them the "former" Soviet Union.
Not bad Belle, but you did not tell the whole story.
Russia attacked with tanks. Tanks take weeks to position.
Premeditated assault. Testing the West, Georgia being the only democracy in the area. Who thinks Barry-Boy will defend Nato nations?
I certainly concur with Anonymous that this was a premeditated, well thought out move. I'm afraid that the next world war will be fought over oil, and this may be another bullet in the opening salvo -- which has been going on for some time now in various parts of the world.
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