[A-List] Kazakhstan: a pipeline through Iran?

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Nazarbayev considers oil pipeline to Gulf via Iran
By Andrew Jack
Financial Times; May 26, 2004

Kazakhstan would like to construct a pipeline through Iran to the Gulf as
the main outlet for its natural resources, the country's president said.

Nursultan Nazarbayev said in an interview with the FT he thought a southern
route for his oil reserves was "the most attractive" both for his country
and for US companies that operated there.

He said the current political relationship between the US and Iran made such
a project impossible, but he was hopeful ties would improve. "It would be
better than Baku-Ceyhan, better than China, better than Russia," he said,
referring to the country's existing infrastructure links. "It would be the
best exit for us."

His comments came shortly after Kazakhstan agreed details of pipeline links
eastwards into China to meet growing energy demands by the Chinese, and he
stressed the historical challenges of a landlocked country that had been
closely tied to the Soviet Union. Mr Nazarbayev said one of Kazakhstan's
principal demands in the creation of a planned economic zone with Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus was also related to natural resources: it sought a
reduction in the tariffs charged by Russia for its oil pipelines and railway
freight.

He said he thought that the four-country zone - which he said accounted for
80 per cent of the Soviet-era economy - could begin operations by as soon as
next year, which he described as a "pragmatic initiative for economic
development". He defended its benefits both for the region and the rest of
the world against suggestions that it represented a re-creation of a
Soviet-style political bloc.

"Why does the west and the US regard with scepticism and even criticism the
fact that the post-Soviet region tries to promote integration?" he said. In
spite of criticism of bureaucracy and corruption in Kazakhstan, Mr
Nazarbayev stressed his efforts at liberal economic reform and openness to
foreign investment. He also reaffirmed his ambition to chair the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2008.