[A-List] Great Pipeline Game: Caspian Through Caucasus To Balkans, Baltic Sea

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

1) Chevron-Texaco Beats Russia: Ukrainian Oil Pipeline
To Bypass Russia, Move Kazakh, Azeri Oil Into Baltic
Sea
2) Ukrainian Cabinet Rebuffs Russia, Opts For Movement
West, Not East
3) Azeri, Georgian, Turkish Governments Sign Deal On
BP-Unocal-ConocoPhilips Caspian-To-Europe Oil Pipeline
4) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister:
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Politicized
5) Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Austria To
Establish New Natural Gas Corridor From Caspian
Through Balkans




1)
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=385795&PageNum=0

Itar-Tass (Russia)
February 4, 2004

Ukraine to use Odessa-Brody pipeline to carry oil to
Europe

-The pipeline had been conceived as the key element of
a Eurasian oil transport corridor to carry Caspian
crude to Europe. The European Union, the United
States, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan want the pipeline to
be used as originally expected.
-Ukraine?s commissioner for the development of the
Eurasian oil transport corridor, Alexander Todiychyuk
has told Tass the U.S. company Chevron-Texaco has
presented its proposal for using the pipeline to the
Ukrainian government.
Chevron-Texaco is prepared to provide an annual six
million tonnes of oil a year to be moved via the
Odessa-Brody pipeline to refineries in Germany.


KIEV, February 4 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine has rejected
Russian oil companies? proposals for using the
Odessa-Brody pipeline in the reverse mode.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Klyuyev said
after the Cabinet?s meeting on Wednesday an
unambiguous decision had been made to transport crude
from Odessa to Brody.

At the same time he did not rule out the possibility
of a long-term agreement (for fifteen years) with
Russia on oil transit through Ukraine.

The pipeline had been conceived as the key element of
a Eurasian oil transport corridor to carry Caspian
crude to Europe. The European Union, the United
States, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan want the pipeline to
be used as originally expected.

Russia has suggested reversing oil traffic in the
pipeline. In exchange it has offered guarantees it
will provide crude oil to fill the pipeline. The
United States has declared the intention to help, too.
The Odessa-Brody pipeline has been idle since 2002, as
there is no crude oil to transport.

Ukraine?s commissioner for the development of the
Eurasian oil transport corridor, Alexander Todiychyuk
has told Tass the U.S. company Chevron-Texaco has
presented its proposal for using the pipeline to the
Ukrainian government.

Chevron-Texaco is prepared to provide an annual six
million tonnes of oil a year to be moved via the
Odessa-Brody pipeline to refineries in Germany.

?The amount of Caspian crude to be pumped through the
pipeline this year will depend on the government?s
decision,? Todiychyuk said.

The reverse mode of operation would allow Russia to
increase oil export by nine million tonnes a year,
deputy president of the Russian pipeline company
Transneft, Sergei Grigoriev told Tass.
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20040204161456.shtml

RBC News (Russia)
February 4, 2004

Ukraine chooses use of oil pipeline

Kiev - The government of Ukraine decided to use a
pipeline from Odessa to Brody in a direct mode (from
Odessa to Brody), refusing Russian companies the use
of the pipeline to pump oil in the reverse direction
to the Yuzhny oil terminal near Odessa. The Ukrainian
Cabinet of Ministers approved the use of the pipeline
to transport oil in the direction from Odessa to
Brody, Andrey Klyuev, Deputy Prime Minister of
Ukraine, told reporters after a government meeting
where the issue was discussed. He said the government
had supported a bill on the concession for this
pipeline.

Klyuev said a working group would be set up to discuss
the use of the Odessa-Brody pipeline with oil
companies. He noted that the pipeline would start
operating as soon as this year.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Azer&pg=0&id=5684987&req=

Interfax (Russia)
February 4, 2004

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan participants sign finance
agreements

-[A]n agreement was confirmed between BTC Co.
shareholders and the governments of participating
countries, signed by the governments of Azerbaijan,
Turkey and Georgia and BTC Co and the project's
creditors.
-"This project will help our close relations with
Turkey and Georgia to become even stronger. I hope
that in the near future we will be holding a ceremony
to mark the launch of the pipeline," [Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev] said.
-U.S. State Department special envoy to the Caspian
region Stephen Mann said that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
project plays a key role in East-West energy projects.

-Participants in the BTC project are: British
Petroleum (30.1%), SOCAR (25%), Unocal (8.9%), Statoil
(8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), Itochu (3.4%),
ConocoPhillips (2.5%), Inpex (2.5%), TotalFinaElf
(5%), and Amerada Hess (2.36%).




Baku. (Interfax) - Participants in a project to build
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline signed financial
agreements for the project on Tuesday, an Interfax
correspondent reports from the signing ceremony.

In particular an agreement was confirmed between BTC
Co. shareholders and the governments of participating
countries, signed by the governments of Azerbaijan,
Turkey and Georgia and BTC Co and the project's
creditors. This agreement states that the rights and
responsibilities of BTC Co. are distributed among the
project's creditors and may be used as collateral.

The Azerbaijani government, BTC Co. and creditors also
signed an agreement providing state guarantees from
Azerbaijan for the State Oil Company of the
Azerbaijani Republic - SOCAR's obligations as part of
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project.

BTC Co. shareholders and creditors also signed a
direct agreement establishing rights and
responsibilities and regulating the provision of
collateral for credits.

Creditors also signed an agreement regulating
relations between themselves.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who participated
in the signing ceremony, said that the signing of
these documents is an important stage in the
development of the project. "This project will help
our close relations with Turkey and Georgia to become
even stronger. I hope that in the near future we will
be holding a ceremony to mark the launch of the
pipeline," he said.

In turn, U.S. State Department special envoy to the
Caspian region Stephen Mann said that the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project plays a key role in
East-West energy projects. He said that this project
may serve as an example for other projects and that
today's events provide an answer to those that said
that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project was merely
political.

The total amount of funds attracted for the project,
including interest, will amount to $2.6 billion, with
a total project cost of $3.6 billion, the source said.
Direct construction costs will amount to $2.95
billion, of which 30% will be invested by shareholders
and 70% will be received as credits. Other expenditure
includes the acquisition of 10 million barrels of oil
to fill the pipeline - about $250 million - and
servicing of credits.

The future pipeline will stretch 1,767 kilometers (443
km through Azerbaijan, 248 km through Georgia and
1,076 km through Turkey) and will have a capacity of
50 million tonnes of oil per annum.

Participants in the BTC project are: British Petroleum
(30.1%), SOCAR (25%), Unocal (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%),
TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), Itochu (3.4%), ConocoPhillips
(2.5%), Inpex (2.5%), TotalFinaElf (5%), and Amerada
Hess (2.36%).

The project organizers are targeting four groups of
creditors: shareholders in the project, who are
expected to provide 30% of the costs; the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the
International Finance Corporation, which will both
provide credits and credit guarantees; export-credit
agencies, which will provide credit guarantees; and
commercial banks.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20040204192855.shtml

RBC News (Russia)
February 4, 2003

Russian official considers Baku-Ceyhan pipeline
project politicized

Moscow - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor
Kalyuzhny considers the project of the Baku-Ceyhan
pipeline "somewhat politicized." He voiced this
opinion at a news briefing in Moscow today. In
Kalyuzhny's opinion, "the financial side of this
project is problematic and long-term." "If Kazakhstan
participates in the project, it will become
profitable, but if Kazakhstan chooses to cooperate
with China or Russia changes its transit policy, this
project will not be profitable," the deputy foreign
minister believes. As it was reported earlier, a
package of agreements on loans for laying the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, totaling $2.6bn, was
signed in Baku on February 3. The package comprises 27
documents. The agreements were made between the
creditors, the three countries, through which the
pipeline will go, and the BTC Co. pipeline company.
The EBRD and the IFC, a syndicate of 15 commercial
banks of the world and 4 shareholders in the pipeline
project (BP, Statoil, ConocoPhillips and Total) take
part in the provision of loans for this project.
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=47453&LangID=1

Seeurope/net
January 27, 2004

A New Gas Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Europe

-The project is estimated at EUR 4.4 billion, with the
pipeline due to run along a total 3,400 km from Turkey
to Austria. The pipeline should be ready by 2010 and
transport 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.



Representatives of the companies involved in
developing a new transit corridor for natural gas from
the Caspian Sea to Western Europe met yesterday in
Romania?s capital Bucharest. Representatives of BOTAS
(Turkey), BULGARGAZ (Bulgaria), TRANSGAZ (Romania),
MOL (Hungary) and OMV ERDGAS (Austria) decided to set
up a company in charge with the administration of the
future gas pipeline, each of them holding a 20% stake
in the new company.

The technical study for the project ? named Nabucco ?
will be ready by September 30 and the signing of
documents for the establishment of the new company is
due on February 25, 2005 in Vienna.

The project is estimated at EUR 4.4 billion, with the
pipeline due to run along a total 3,400 km from Turkey
to Austria. The pipeline should be ready by 2010 and
transport 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

?This project aims at meeting the increasing demand of
natural gas on the European and Romanian markets?,
said Iulian Iancu, State Secretary with the Ministry
of the Economy and Commerce. To Romania, this project
will bring an alternate supply of gas for domestic
consumption, at a lower cost compared to the other
sources,? said Gabriel Coconea, General Manager of
Transgaz.









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