Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 14:33:17 +0100
From: Paul Bowman <paulbowman-AT-totalise.co.uk>
Subject: RE: AUT: Fw: oil pipelines, Caspians Sea, Taliban...


On the same topic, the UK's channel 4 news broadcast the following report last 
night. [NB this is a script for a spoken delivery, hence the slightly hammy 
style].

As to whether the claims in the report are correct or not is open to question.

CHANNEL 4 NEWS
 SPECIAL REPORTS
 Oil rush

 Broadcast: October 25, 2001

 Reporter: Liam Halligan
     
Freedom, justice, a world rid of terrorism, Operation Enduring Freedom has a 
whole range of stated objectives.

But is there another, less well advertised motive to the bombing of 
Afghanistan?

With world-wide demand for oil increasing and the Gulf States- in particular 
Saudi Arabia- vulnerable to instability the United States is desperate to tap 
the vast untapped fields of Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian states.

And as Liam Halligan explains Afghanistan is central to trying to move oil 
from there to the west:

The September 11th atrocities sparked a coalition - a "crusade" said George 
Bush - for freedom and justice. But take a closer look. There's an important 
subtext to the struggle over Afghanistan. OIL.

Over the last few years, you may have read that the West - and particularly 
the US - is becoming less oil dependent. But it's just not true.

Back in 1970, the US used 16m barrels each day. Today that's ballooned to 22m 
- making America by far the world's biggest oil importer.

The European Union used 12m barrels a day 30 years ago. Now it's 15m.

And oil's not just used for petrol. Right now, you're reading off a computer 
monitor made of plastic, presumably in a warm room and probably wearing 
man-made fibres. All thanks to oil.

So where does it all come from?

Saudi Arabia, of course, is the biggest exporter - over 7m barrels per day. 
Iran, Iraq and Kuwait are big players too.

But don't forget the Former Soviet Union to the East - which exports almost 
4,500,000 barrels daily. Apart from Russia, it's these newly independent 
Central Asian states that are key.

Already 20 BILLION barrels of oil reserves have been found in Khazakhstan - 
and there could be much more. The oil and gas so far discovered in these parts 
is worth THREE TRILLION dollars in today's prices.

That's why Western oil companies are so interested this oil to world markets.

It's the culmination of the Great Game. The struggle for influence in Central 
Asia is the last great oil rush, as the West tries to reduce dependence on the 
Gulf.

Russia's already built a pipeline from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea and onto 
the outside world, earning billions in oil and gas exports.

US oil companies could try and build from Baku through Georgia , or on to 
Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

But it would be much, much cheaper to build pipes from Central Asia through 
Afghanistan, to the Gulf Coast in Pakistan.

That's a major reason the US unofficially backed the Taliban in the mid-90s, 
when American oil men were planning such a pipeline. But when the Taliban 
turned it's back on Uncle Sam, Western oil money got scared.

Afghanistan - once the stomping ground of Czars and commissars - is no 
stranger to the Great Game.

As a pipeline route, this remote region is crucial if Western powers are to 
reduce their dependence on Saudi Arabia - itself potentially unstable.

The Gulf War was largely about oil. You won't hear it said often but, 
inadvertently, this one is too.



>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Richard N Hutchinson" <rhutchin-AT-U.Arizona.EDU>
>To: "Talmadge Wright" <twright-AT-orion.it.luc.edu>
>Cc: "George Snedeker" <snedeker-AT-concentric.net>; "psn"
><psn-AT-csf.colorado.edu>; <wsn-AT-csf.colorado.edu>
>Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 12:02 PM
>Subject: oil
>
>
>> I just took a look at "Taliban" by Rashid yesterday, as well as the piece
>> on Caspian basin energy in the Sept/Oct Foreign Affairs.
>>
>> Neither provides any strong evidence that the U.S. is intervening in
>> Afghanistan for oil.  Yes, Unocal would like to build a pipeline (for
>> gas, not oil), but Rashid describes their lack of ability to influence
>> U.S. policy.  The main pipeline routes from the Caspian do not go through
>> Afghanistan -- the U.S. has been trying to establish a route through
>> Azerbaijan and Georgia and mainly Turkey, the BTC line
>> (Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan).  The CPC line, from the Tengiz oil field in
>> Kazakhstan to the Black Sea, is in service, a joint venture of Russia,
>> Kazakhstan, Oman and several oil companies, including Chevron, ExxonMobil,
>> and LukArco.  Not the remotest connection to Afghanistan.
>>
>> When the U.S. starts joining Russia in subduing Chechnyan rebels, or
>> pacifying Nagorno-Karabakh (an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan) we'll know
>> we have a war for oil going on, as those spots abut planned pipelines
>> running west from the Caspian.
>>
>> RH
>>
>>
>
>
>
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