Russia Warns Turkey Over Bosporus ( delays to Russian oil exports)

[Dover]

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004. Page 5

Russia Warns Turkey Over Bosporus

By Yalman Onaran
Bloomberg ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Turkish authorities are restricting traffic through the Bosporus and delaying Russian oil exports to promote their plans to build pipelines across the country, acting Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny said Thursday.

"A special alarm is being sounded consistently for political reasons to promote multiple oil pipelines," Kalyuzhny said at an oil and gas conference in Istanbul. "The straits are only at half their transit capacity. Inadequate traffic control is the only problem."

The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits are among the world's busiest waterways and the main route through which Russia and other former Soviet states send exports, including crude oil, to world markets. Turkey since 1998 has implemented new rules, such as banning tanker traffic at night, to increase safety.

Turkey is pushing for pipelines to connect the Black Sea to the Mediterranean as a way to reduce tanker traffic in the straits.

Turkey is also planning to pump Iraqi natural gas through a new pipeline that will be built to connect the Turkish network to Greece's pipes and on to Western Europe, possibly bringing the country into conflict with Russia, Europe's largest gas supplier.

"Russia may be harsh regarding our plans to sell gas to third parties because it wants to remain a monopoly," said Nadir Buyukoglu, deputy chief executive of BOTAS, Turkey's state-run pipeline company. Turkey, which has negligible oil or gas reserves, is seeking to become a transit route for energy resources that could be shipped from its eastern neighbors to Western Europe. Those plans may create conflicts with Russia, which is seeking to boost its oil and gas exports and Thursday criticized Turkey's plans to ship gas to Europe via Greece.

"But times are changing, and keeping commercial considerations in mind, I believe they will also turn around and let us sell their gas to Europe," Buyukoglu said.

Turkey and the United States successfully lobbied international oil companies to build a $3.6 billion pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean, despite concerns the route was not economically viable. A BP-led group started work on the project in 2002...cont'd

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/02/27/042.html

[jmcgowanjm]

1. The new system "mysteriously has made things worse,"

Kalyuzhny said. "The straits are not safer now, and the delays have gotten worse."

You can't make this stuff up.

[kalian]

2. This could get serious....

Granted, I'm sure that the Europeans would appreciate another
source for their gas and oil needs, thus leading to lower prices,
but if Turkey continues to make things "difficult" for Russia...things
could get "interesting".

Since the US has already established precedence with "preemptive"
strikes and what-not, I think Russia would do the same...in particular
controlling the Bosphorous strait...