Where exactly is Baku-Ceyhan?

[Connie Clark]

--I picked up this small item in the local section of
the paper today:

Houston's International Scene

By MAE GHALWASH 
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle 


Optimism over Baku-Ceyhan pipeline 

A State Department official has dismissed skepticism
over the construction of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, a
$3.5 billion project that would transport Caspian oil
to European markets, saying that renewed senior-level
U.S. interest in the region since Sept. 11 should help
spur development. 

Ambassador Steven Mann, who is the State Department's
senior adviser for Caspian Basin Energy diplomacy,
also said costly engineering studies by private
companies are a sign that there is still interest in
the pipeline's construction. 

Mann spoke Thursday at a Houston conference on Central
Asia and the Caspian hosted by the Eurasia Group. 

"For years, people have been speculating that
(Baku-Ceyhan) is not financially sustainable. Well,
now we have gone so far down the road on this, and BP
and its partners have put up $150 million for
engineering studies, that it is clear within the
industry that this is a pipeline that is going to
happen," Mann said. 

The BP Group announced in June that it had launched an
engineering study of the pipeline and said it expected
it to be built and operating by 2004. 

Washington has long pushed the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline,
and it is the center of U.S. Caspian energy policy.
But the United States faces competition for influence
in the region, namely from Russia and Iran. Both
nations are vying for their own regional pipelines. 

Mann also encouraged the Houston business community to
explore investment opportunities in Eastern European
states as they continue to modernize. 

However, Mann warned, U.S. companies should proceed
cautiously when "investing in a part of the world
where there is no deep tradition of rule of law." 



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