MOSCOW. (Yevgeny Kozhokin for RIA Novosti)--The overwhelming majority of oil transportation experts agree that the recently opened Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) is a purely political project that will inflict considerable economic and political losses on Russia.
As of today, the Russian-Azerbaijani agreement on pumping Azerbaijani oil along the Baku-Makhachkala-Novorossiisk pipeline has not been prolonged, and after 2005 this pipe may stay idle, as the Azerbaijani oil will go along the BTC pipeline. It is evident that in this case Russia will sustain considerable losses.
But there is another series of problems, specifically environmental ones. Mineral resources are developed in the area using methods from the 20th and even 19th century. Standards generally recognized in the civilized world are being ignored and the environmental system is in fact being destroyed, while the level of oil production at the deposits is very low and does not correspond to the capacities of modern oil production technologies.
This is a challenge for all the oil producing countries in the region, including Russia, because oil and gas are exhaustible minerals and the environmental damage is great and will cost a high price. And it will have to be paid not by the producers alone but by all regional countries. Suffice it to mention the rich Tengiz deposit in Kazakhstan. Mountains of crystalline sulfur have been piled up near that deposit, presenting a grave threat to the local environment. In addition, large-tonnage oil tankers are planned to start sailing in the Caspian Sea. It is obvious that they will pose a very serious threat to the unique and most vulnerable Caspian Sea ecosystem and environment.
Yevgeny Kozhokin, director, Russian Institute of Strategic Studies
