Caspian Oil Pipeline

From 9/11 Encyclopedia:

The caspian oil pipeline was one of the most important reasons to start a war against the Taliban, which was planned since 1997/98. In November 2001, parts of the pipeline had been opened in Russia: "..A new pipeline which will pump around 600,000 barrels of oil to the west from Central Asia each day will be officially opened on Tuesday. 

The $2.6 billion Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) project runs from the Tengiz oilfield in western Kazakhstan to Russia. U.S. companies have invested around $700 million in the pipeline, and U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has travelled to Russia for the official opening in the southern region of Novorossiisk.

The CPC was established in 1992 by Russia, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Sultanate of Oman to run a 1,580 kilometre crude oil pipeline to a Black Sea terminal near Novorossiisk. Construction began in 1999 and full completion is expected early next year. 

New Caspian oil interests fuel US war drive against Iraq
16 November 1998
Iraq's decision to allow the resumption of UN weapons inspections has temporarily forestalled a US attack. But the crisis is by no means resolved.

The Great Game - The War For Caspian Oil And Gas
By Christopher Bollyn
10-14-1
President Bush's "crusade against the Taliban of Afghanistan has more to do with control of the immense oil and gas resources of the Caspian Basin than it does with "rooting out terrorism.

Afghanistan lies squarely between Turkmenistan, home to the world's third-largest natural gas reserves, and the lucrative markets of the Indian subcontinent, China and Japan. A memorandum of understanding has been signed to build a 900-mile natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan, but the ongoing civil war and absence of a stable government in Afghanistan have prevented the project from going forward.
 
Afghanistan was at the center of the so-called "Great Game in the 19th century when Imperial Russia and the British Empire in India vied for influence. Today, its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural gas pipelines, makes Afghanistan an extremely important piece of a global strategy by energy magnates to obtain control over these precious resources.
 
Enron, a Texas-based gas and energy company, together with Amoco, British Petroleum, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil and Unocal are all engaged in a multi-billion dollar frenzy to extract the reserves of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, the three newly independent Soviet republics that border on the Caspian Sea.
 
On behalf of the oil companies, an array of former cabinet members from the elder Bush administration have been actively involved in negotiations with the former Soviet republics. The dealmakers include James Baker, Brent Scowcroft, Dick Cheney, and John Sununu.
 
Turkmenistan and Azerbijan are also both closely allied with Israeli commercial interests and Israeli military intelligence. In Turkmenistan, a "former Israeli intelligence agent, Yosef A. Maiman, president of Merhav Group of Israel, is the official negotiator and policy maker responsible for developing the energy resources of Turkmenistan.
 
"This is the Great Game all over, Maiman told The Wall Street Journal about his role in furthering the "geopolitical goals of both the U.S. and Israel in Central Asia. "We are doing what U.S. and Israeli policy could not achieve, he said, "Controlling the transport route is controlling the product.
 
"Those that control the oil routes out of Central Asia will impact all future direction and quantities of flow and the distribution of revenues from new production, said energy expert James Dorian recently in Oil & Gas Journal on September 10.
 
Foreign business in Turkmenistan is dominated by Maiman's Merhav Group, according to The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA). Maiman, who was made a citizen of Turkmenistan by presidential decree, serves as Turkmenistan's "official negotiator for its gas pipeline, special ambassador, and "right-hand man for the "authoritarian President Saparmurad Atayevich Niyazov, a former Politburo member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
 
The Merhav Group of Israel officially represents the Turkmen government and has brokered all of the energy projects in Turkmenistan, contracts worth many billions of dollars.
 
Merhav has been contracted to modernize existing natural gas infrastructure and will build new facilities in an oil refinery in the city of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea. Merhav refuses to disclose its sources of financing.
 
In keeping with Israeli political interests, Maiman's planned pipelines bypass Iran and Russia. Maiman has said that he would have no objection to dealing with Iran, "when and if Israeli policy allows it.
 
Iran has accused the U.S. of trying to keep regional pipelines from passing through Iran. Creating a counterbalance to Iran's regional influence was a cornerstone of the Clinton administration, which was concerned that Iran could gain too much control over Caspian exports.
 
"This is a common interest for the U.S. and Israel, said Dr. Nimrod Novik, vice president of Merhav, "The primary interest is to prevent the development of Turkish strategic dependence on Iran, given the unique emerging strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel.
 
Russia and Turkmenistan are in a battle to conquer the Turkish gas market, the supplier that offers the best price for its gas will emerge as the winner. "This is a great race, Maiman says, "Whoever takes Turkey first wins. Whoever comes second will have lean years.
 
Although the U.S. needs Russian assistance in its campaign against Afghanistan, when AFP asked Alex Chorine of Caspian Investor what kind of relationship existed between the Russian and Western/Israeli energy companies doing business in the Caspian Basin, Chorine said, "They act as enemies.
 
One of Maiman's proposed pipelines would bring Turkmenistan's gas and oil to Turkey via Azerbaijan and Georgia. Maiman's Merhav Group is also involved in a $100 million project that would reduce the flow of water to Iraq by diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to southeastern Turkey.
 
Israeli officials boast of having "excellent relations with Azerbaijan, where an Israeli company, Magal Security Systems, has a contract to provide security at Baku airport. Magal is one of several Israeli companies that will "turn Israel into a major player in Azerbaijan by providing security for the 1,200 mile pipeline taking oil from the Caspian to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
 
Enron, the biggest contributor to the Bush campaign of 2000, conducted the feasibility study for a $2.5 billion Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which is being built under a joint venture agreement signed in February 1999 between Turkmenistan and two American companies, Bechtel and General Electric Capital Services. Maiman acted as the intermediary between the Turkmenis and the U.S. firms, but won,t discuss "his cut or whether he will receive a stake in the pipeline.
 
The Merhav Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm, Cassidy & Associates, and spent several million dollars to "encourage U.S. officials to push for the Trans-Caspian pipeline. During the Clinton administration, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and "special adviser to the president, Richard Morningstar promoted the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, calling it "critical to the economic survival of Turkmenistan.
 
The relationship between Israel, Turkey, and the U.S. is the major factor for the selection of the Baku-Ceyhan route, which could be extended to bring oil directly to energy deficient Israel, however, energy experts question the wisdom and cost of this route. Companies are under pressure from the U.S. and Israel to invest in east-west pipelines, although most companies would prefer cheaper north-south pipelines through Iran, according to WRMEA.
 
The U.S. firm Unocal was leading a pipeline project to bring Turkmenistan's abundant natural gas through Afghanistan to the growing markets of Pakistan and India, until the turmoil in Afghanistan led them to withdraw from the project in 1998. The planned pipeline would carry gas from the Turkmen Dauletabad fields, among the world's largest, to Multan in Pakistan, with a planned extension to India. The line from Dauletabad through Afghanistan is planned to transport 15 billion cubic feet of gas per year for 30 years. This pipeline is on hold until the political and military situations in Afghanistan improve.
 
There is a second Unocal project to build a 1,030 mile oil pipeline called the Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project, which would start at Chardzhou in Turkmenistan linking Russia's Siberian oil field pipelines to Pakistan's Arabian coast. This line could transport 1 million barrels a day of oil from other areas of the Former Soviet Union. It would run parallel to the gas line route through Afghanistan and branch off in Pakistan to the Indian Ocean terminal in Ras Malan.
 
ISRAEL's SOVIET DICTATORS IN CENTRAL ASIA
 
Niyazov, the authoritarian president of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was elected in 1990, and remained in power when Turkmenistan declared independence in October 1991. In May 1992, Niyazov oversaw the passage of a new constitution giving the president extraordinary powers.
 
Under the new constitution, the president is head of government as well as head of state, and can appoint a prime minister at any time. The president can also appoint and remove all judges.
 
Niyazov's leadership became increasingly authoritarian during the 1990s. In September 1993 he defended his policy of tight censorship of the press as a prerequisite for stability and peace in the country. In a referendum held in January 1994, nearly 100 percent of the voters endorsed Niyazov's leadership, allowing him to extend his presidency until 2002.
 
Niyazov renamed himself Turkmenbashi (father of the Turkmen) and presents himself as a prophet and messiah. Every morning, state radio and television (no independent broadcasters exist) transmit the words of a prayer that includes an oath of allegiance to the president along with the traditional appeal to Allah.
 
Like Turkmenistan, the other Central Asian nations of Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are all ruled by former Communists who came to power under the Soviet system. All five have been re-elected to their posts without opposition, garnering over 90 percent of the votes and securing comfortable lives in the national palaces.
 
In each of the Central Asian countries a strange and officially imposed dichotomy between "official" and "unofficial" Islam has appeared. Official Islam refers to religious institutions under the control of the state authorities. Unofficial Islam includes all other Muslims, especially those who believe that Islam cannot be controlled by the state power. They are accused of being extremists.
 
The strength of Islamic fundamentalist movements like the Taliban in Afghanistan and the anti-Russian Chechen rebels threatens the Soviet style dictatorships and their control of the region's immense mineral wealth.
 
FOCUS ON AFGHANISTAN
 
Before the sun had set on the apocalyptic day that New York's gleaming twin towers collapsed, the U.S. government had already determined to affix the blame for the kamikaze attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born guerilla leader, and the Taliban government of Afghanistan which harbored him.
 
Although the U.S. government did not present its evidence in support of its case against bin Laden, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on September 23, "I think in the near future, we will be able to put out a paper, a document, that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack.
 
When it was reported that the Taliban might turn bin Laden over to face justice, the Bush administration said that surrendering bin Laden would not prevent an American-led attack on Afghanistan.
 
An international plan to remove the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban from power has been a subject of international diplomatic discussions for months and was reportedly raised by India during the Group of Eight summit in July in Genoa, Italy.
 
The Indian press reported in June that, "India and Iran will facilitate, U.S. and Russian plans for limited military action, against the Taliban if the contemplated tough new economic sanctions don,t bend Afghanistan's fundamentalist regime.
 
The invasion plans described in the Indian press in June may come to pass in October: "Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will lead the ground attack with a strong military back up of the U.S. and Russia. Vital Taliban installations and military assets will be targeted.
 
The economic reasons for the multi-national assault against the Taliban were explained: "Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan are threatened by the Taliban that is aiming to control their vast oil, gas, and other resources by bringing Islamic fundamentalists into power.
 
What was not explained in the Indian press is how these four predominantly Islamic Central Asian nations would be "threatened by having "Islamic fundamentalists in power.

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