Contentious 1,000-mile 'lifeline of black gold to the West opens
Taps were turned on this morning on a 1,000-mile pipeline through some of the most war-ravaged countries on earth in a bid to ease the West's reliance on OPEC oil.
The pipeline makes its tortuous way from the shores of the Caspian in Azerbaijan, through Georgia to the coast of Turkey. It has driven a wedge between the United States and Russia, triggered political unrest in the countries it passes through and their neighbours and sparked concerns over environmental damage.
Output of Black Gold, is meant to reach one million barrels a day, over 1pc of total world production from a reserve that in the 1990s was reckoned at 200 billion barrels.
The crude that began to flow this morning is the first instalment of a reserve many analysts are now convinced is actually only 32 billion barrels equivalent to a small Gulf player such as Qatar.
Irish Independent News
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05-25-2005, 02:34 PM
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