The Caspian Sea - US Promoting Energy Corridor; Russia & Iran Are Opposed.

During his visit to Astana on May 5, 2006, US Vice President Dick Cheney proposed construction of oil and gas pipelines under the Caspian to link Central Asian reserves to Europe via Azerbaijan and Turkey, thus bypassing both Russia and Iran. But both Moscow and Tehran are strongly opposed to such projects, arguing that the seabed is too unstable for pipelines and the environmental dangers to the Caspian region as a whole is are to high for the five littoral countries to contain; behind their arguments, of course, lie obvious geo-strategic considerations - with the US also trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear bombs.

Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko on Feb. 22, 2006, warned that the undetermined borders of the Caspian Sea would be a stumbling bloc for the proposed pipeline projects, adding: "Resolving the issue of a trans-Caspian system, including the construction of a pipeline [system], will be possible only after agreeing to a clear understanding of the status of the Caspian".

The proposed pipelines would link the oil and gas reserves of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to the recently completed pipeline which now connects Azerbaijan's own crude oil to Europe through Georgia and Turkey. There is a parallel line under construction which will pump Azeri gas to Georgia, Turkey and Europe and which is to be on stream before end-2006.

Top US officials dealing with the region have taken a different view of the "corridor" projects. The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs, Matt Bryza, told AFP in February that it was up to the countries involved to decide whether the pipelines should go ahead, noting: "Several feasibility studies have demonstrated the technical, environmental and economic feasibility of a trans-Caspian pipeline [system] and it is up to the countries through which the pipelines would travel and the investors concerned to decide whether to proceed". Bryza said Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov "showed interest in exploring the possibilities of the trans-Caspian pipeline, as well as other options", during a meeting the two had in Ashgabat January 2006.

In May 2006, the rulers of Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova decided to strengthen an alliance to establish alternative energy supplies to the EU. The alliance, previously known as GUAM, became a full-fledged international bloc, to be headquartered in Kiev. It will be called the Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM). The bloc will focus on "forming a democratic space, security, humanitarian and social development, European integration and Euro-Atlantic integration", Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said.

The leaders said their bloc was a step towards promoting energy supply routes linking the Caspian Sea basin and consumers in the EU. Projects within GUAM will include major oil and gas pipelines under the seabed. One of the projects calls for building a pipeline across the Black Sea, from Georgia to Ukraine, to allow shipments of Iranian natural gas to Europe. The same pipeline, if complemented by another pipeline to be built across the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, could be used to move resources from Turkmenistan, one of the world's largest sources of natural gas, and from Kazakhstan. Both would help to bypass Russia on the way to Ukraine and to the EU and have been vehemently opposed by Russia, which sees the projects as a threat to its own gas supplies to Europe.

Azerbaijan on Oct. 6, 2005, opened talks on dividing the Caspian Sea with a call for demilitarising the region. Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said: "I consider that the time has come for discussions on the question of demilitarising the Caspian region and beginning the consolidation of forces for the fight against terrorism and other threats".

Russia has a large naval force deployed on the Caspian. Three of the four other littoral states - Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakhstan - have small forces.

The talks were a new attempt to find agreement on how to apportion the Caspian seabed, which is believed to hold the world's third-largest oil reserves. Iran has insisted that each of the five coastal states get an equal portion of the seabed, while most other countries want the division based on shoreline, which would give Iran a smaller share.