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Каспинфо февраль 2000 |
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Название: Материалы на английском Главные Пункты: * Гранты и иные ресурсы для НКО от FREEDOM HOUSE. * Правительство дает <зеленый свет> Балтийской трубопроводной системе. * Американский президент ищет доводы, чтобы убедить президента Туркменистана не отказываться от сооружения Транскаспийского трубопровода. * Азербайджан и Грузия поддержат проект Баку-Джейхан. * Кремль принял решение не сдавать позиции в битве за каспийскую нефть. * Азербайджан и Грузия не смогли договориться о тарифах на транспортировку нефти. * Икорная революция - краткий обзор о производителях икры в мире. *Нефтяное озеро под Грозным. * У Азербайджана и Туркменистана возникли разногласия по поводу экспортного газопровода, что позволяет России укрепить свои позиции в регионе. * Российский премьер обсуждает в Казахстане перспективы сотрудничества в энергетическом секторе. (16.02.2000) Полный Текст Материалы на английском FREEDOM HOUSE'S NGO NEWS GRANTS AND OPPORTUNITIES Грантовые конкурсы Образование, Политика, Право, Экология Текст Green Fellowships: The Regional Environmental Center's (REC) Junior Fellowship Program brings young employees of environmental NGO's to Hungary for a four week program of workshops and customized environmental NGO training. Junior Fellows may also have an opportunity for independent research or working part-time on projects with REC teams or local NGOs. The program is ongoing, with new applications accepted every other month. Applicants must speak English and must be between 20 and 30 years old. Regional Environmental Center Junior Fellowship Program Ady Endre ut 9-11 2000 Szentendre, Hungary Tel (36-26) 311-199 Fax (36-26) 311-294 Email: acraciun@rec.org Legal Fellows Sought: Applications are being sought for the Public Interest Law Fellows Program and the Human Rights Fellows Program, which each select three lawyers from CEE and FSU for a two year work and study program designed to cultivate public interest or human rights legal skills. Fellows will spend one year in the U.S. and one year in his or her home country. Applications are due by April 1. For more information contact: Eszter Filippinyi, Program Director Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute (COLPI) Nador u. 11 Budapest 1051, Hungary Tel (36-1) 327-3102 Fax (36-1) 327-3103 Email: filippinyi@osi.hu Scholarly Support: Short term grants of $100 per day are available to high level scholars (or non-academic professionals who have demonstrated a high level of achievement) with a particular need to utilize the library, archival, and other specialized resources of the Washington DC area. For application materials, contact: The Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies The Woodrow Wilson Center 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW Washington, DC 20024-2518 USA Tel: (1-202) 287-3400 Fax: (1-202) 287-3772 Starr Fellowship: Mid-career professionals from Eastern Europe, Russia, and the FSU can apply for Starr Fellowships to pursue the Masters of International Policy and Practice (MIPP) degree at George Washington University in the US. Candidates must have either eight years of professional work experience or an advance degree to be eligible. Contact: Kristin Lord, George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs 2013 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052 USA Tel: (1-202) 994-0562 Fax (1-202) 994-0335 Email: klord@gwu.edu ARNOVA Seeks Papers: The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) has issued a call for papers and panel session proposals for its November 4-6 conference in Washington DC. Conference topics include voluntarism, NGO management, comparative studies of the third sector, the role of NGOs in public policy making, and the nature and impact of advocacy activities by NGOs. For more information on submissions, contact: ARNOVA Executive Office C/O Indiana University Center of Philanthropy 550 W. North Street, Suite 301 Indianapolis, IN 46202 USA Tel (1-317) 684-2120 Fax (1-317) 684-2128 Web: http://www.arnova.org OSCE Research: Research Scholars are sought in Estonia, Latvia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine to assist with a project on OSCE activities. The project requires applicants to have good knowledge of English, proper research background, and the ability to investigate ethno-political conflicts from an objective viewpoint. For more information, contact: Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy University of Hamburg C/o Dr. Wolfgang Zellner Falkenstein 1, D-22587 Germany Tel: (49-40) 866-077-63 Fax (49-40) 866-3615 Email: zellner@public.uni-hamburg.de ********* RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 31, Part I, 14 February 2000 GOVERNMENT GIVES GO-AHEAD TO BALTIC PIPELINE SYSTEM. At a 10 February meeting, the cabinet officially approved beginning construction of the Baltic Pipeline System. That system is intended to link oil deposits in western Siberia and the Far North with a new port at Primorsk, on the Gulf of Finland. But questions remain as to how the project will be funded. Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko told reporters in Moscow on 11 February that a levy on oil transports as of April is expected to raise $130 million this year, and he noted that $103 million was collected in 1999 from a similar surcharge. But while Russian oil exporters are considered likely to provide their part of the funds, "The Moscow Times" on 12 February quoted analysts as raising doubts about Transneft's ability to meet its financial obligations. The state oil pipeline monopoly is to have a 50 percent plus one share in the project, according to Interfax on 11 February. JC ********* HIGHER OIL PRICES BRING HIGHER REVENUE, DESPITE VOLUME DECLINE. Russia's revenues from oil exports climbed 41 percent in 1999 to $13.3 billion, compared with $9.454 billion in 1998, Interfax reported on 14 February. Exports totaled 123.9 million tons, down 2.3 percent compared with the previous year. JAC ******* U.S. PRESIDENT SEEKS TO PERSUADE TURKMENISTAN OVER TRANS- CASPIAN PROJECT. Bill Clinton has written to Turkmenistan's President Saparmurad Niyazov to ask him to extend the mandate of the U.S. company PSG, which heads the consortium to build the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, Russian agencies reported. That mandate expires on 19 February. Clinton also asked Niyazov to grant the project sponsors greater flexibility in concluding mutual agreements and to invite Azerbaijan to join the project. At present Ashgabat and Baku are deadlocked over the amount of gas that Azerbaijan will be permitted to export via the Trans-Caspian pipeline. Representatives of PSG and its upstream partner, Shell, held talks in Tbilisi on 10-11 February with Georgian oil and gas officials on construction of the pipeline, Caucasus Press reported. At the same time, Georgia is considering a separate agreement with Russia on a pipeline to export Russian gas via Georgia to Turkey, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 9 February. LF ********** RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 32, Part I, 15 February 2000 TWO AZERBAIJANI OIL OFFICIALS DETAINED. Tofik Akhundov, who heads the division of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR responsible for main-stream pipelines, and his deputy, Rizvan Vahabov, were detained late last week on suspicion of the illegal sale of crude oil in 1993-1995, Turan and RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reported on 14 February. Vahabov played a key role in 1993 in ensuring the return to Baku of then Nakhichevan Supreme Council chairman and current President Heidar Aliev. LF ******* AZERBAIJANI, GEORGIAN PRESIDENTS PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR BAKU- CEYHAN. Speaking in Washington on 14 February at the start of an official visit, President Aliev said that Azerbaijan will begin construction of the planned Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for Caspian oil "very soon," AP reported. To date, it is not clear who will provide the estimated $2.4 billion needed for the project. In Tbilisi, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze told Georgian national radio the same day that Georgia "will meet all its commitments" with regard to building that pipeline, according to Interfax. Arriving in Baku on 14 February for talks on the pipeline project, Georgian Foreign Minister Menagharishvili played down the unresolved dispute over Georgia's demand that it receive $0.20 in transit fees per barrel for oil pumped through the Georgian stretch of the pipeline. LF *********** 12 February 2000 davidjohnson@erols.com #12 Russia: Kremlin Determined To Stay In Race For Caspian Oil By Michael Lelyveld Moscow is pressing ahead with an oil pipeline around Chechnya, despite its success on the battlefield. In this analysis, RFE/RL correspondent Michael Lelyveld writes that the high cost of the project is a sign of Russia's determination to show that i t can still control Caspian oil. Boston, 11 February 2000 (RFE/RL) -- Russia may be spending almost as much to build a pipeline around Chechnya as to fight the war, suggesting that oil is playing a major part in the Kremlin's regional plans. The state-owned pipeline company Transneft has estimated the cost of building the bypass around Chechnya at $160 million. On January 24, First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said that the war's cost in 1999 was about 5 billion rubles, or $174 million. Both figures are open to question, but they appear to indicate a comparable expense, at least in terms of cold cash. Russia seems to be racing ahead with the bypass line, even though it has captured and secured central Grozny. On Monday, Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister Vladimir Stanev said that Transneft has laid 147 kilometers of pipe, or about half of the 312-kilometer detour around Chechnya. The route through Dagestan is intended to replace Russia's broken link through Grozny and complete the Caspian oil passage from Baku to Novorossiysk. Stanev claimed that Transneft is working at the astonishing rate of 25 kilometers per week, allowing completion on schedule sometime next month. If the rate is correct, it would represent an impressive commitment of manpower, materials and resources. It implies that Transneft has been laying over 3,500 meters of pipe per day. But other Russian statements may call the claim into doubt. On February 1, Transneft Vice President Sergey Grigoryev said that 138 kilometers of line had been "assembled and installed." The figure implies that only nine kilometers of line were laid last week, not 25. Alternately, Stanev's figure may be for pipes laid on the ground but not welded in place. In either case, the statements seem to show the eagerness of officials to demonstrate to their superiors and the world that they are pressing ahead with the project, which was ordered by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin before he became acting president. The bypass plan appears to be aimed at convincing Chechnya rebels that Grozny will never again have strategic value, despite its previous importance as a route for a pipeline and a railway, as well as Chechnya's own oil. The message to the world is that Russia will control an export route from the Caspian, no matter what the future of conflicts in the Caucasus. But the message to the Chechens may be contradicted, in part, by reports that the Russian oil company Rosneft has been granted temporary rights to Chechnya's oil and gas resources. Most of the petroleum installations are located in and around the ruins of Grozny, but apparently, they are still important enough to attract commercial interest. How Rosneft plans to move the resources without a pipeline or a railway is still a mystery. An alternate interpretation is that both will be restored, and Grozny will retain strategic importance, after all. Late last month, Putin aide Sergei Chizhov cast doubt on the value of the bypass project, in light of Moscow's progress in winning the war. "Should $150 million be wasted? Personally, I do not rule out the possibility that the project may be buried," said Chizhov, as quoted by the Caspian Times. Whether or not it proves useful, Transneft officials may be trying to show their own value by completing the Putin project as ordered and on time. The timetable suggests that Putin may see apolitical benefit in getting it done before the March 26 presidential vote. For the time being, at least, there is no oil to put into the pipeline, raising doubts about the economic purpose and the haste. Azerbaijan has stopped shipping oil along the current pipeline and rail route to Novorossiysk because of the need to refine fuel oil for its shortage-stricken power plants. Transneft's Grigoryev said the company may seek oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan if Azerbaijan decides not to use the pipeline. But volumes of Turkmen oil are still small, while Kazakhstan is already shipping oil through its northern connection with other Russian lines. Another new line from Kazakhstan to Novorossiysk is also under construction by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The Kremlin's insistence on the bypass seems to be a sign that it will pay almost any price to stay in the race for Caspian oil, whether the pipeline is needed or not. The cost in human terms has been infinitely higher, but so far, Russia has not taken it into account. ************ RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 18, Part I, 26 January 2000 AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA FAIL TO AGREE ON OIL TRANSPORT TARIFFS. During talks in Ankara on 21-24 January, Azerbaijani and Georgian representatives failed to resolve their dispute over transit tariffs that Georgia will receive from the export of oil via the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, Caucasus Press reported. Nor did the Azerbaijani side agree to the Georgian demand that it be allowed to keep 2-3 percent of the crude transitting its territory for domestic use. Also on 25 January, Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze told Ukrainian Premier Viktor Yushchenko in Moscow that Georgia will support the proposed export of some Caspian oil via the Odesa-Brody pipeline, ITAR-TASS reported. LF ******** The Caviar Revolution? Financial Times (London), February 12, 2000 The large sturgeon measured nearly 6ft (2 metres). The fish farm manager had taken it from its tank and was holding it for me to photograph. It was surprisingly docile. It seemed to have a look of resignation, its pointy snout and "whiskers" giving it a particular personality. Click, click! Photographs taken, the sturgeon was released back into its tank. I had seen these fish in Russia, but we were in the Aquitaine region of France. What were sturgeon, and the caviar these superb fish produce, doing there? Ever since the Russian tsars developed a taste for salted sturgeons' eggs, caviar has been a delicacy favoured by the rich. True caviar is produced from the eggs of sturgeon, a large, bottom-feeding fish once found in rivers from France to Siberia and the US. By the 1950s, pollution, river dams and over-fishing had almost wiped out sturgeon in North America and in the Rhone area of France. For the Soviet Union and Iran, the caviar trade was big business, and to ensure adequate supplies they established sturgeon hatcheries along the Caspian Sea. Then came the Iranian revolution when caviar was not high on the list of that country's priorities. Later, with the Soviet Union's collapse, great areas along the Caspian shores became the province of new nations for whom caviar was of little economic significance. The former Soviet Union hatcheries went into decline because of lack of funds and planning. Oil-drilling in the Caspian further compounded the problem and commen-tators started to forecast the demise of sturgeon and the caviar they produced. The sturgeon catch, around 25,000 tonnes a year in the 1980s, dropped to 3,400 tonnes in one decade and is still plummeting. In Siberia, the Amur River and its tributaries provided the other source of caviar but there, too, the outlook was grim. Over-fishing and pollution had almost decimated the sturgeon, adding to the worldwide shortage of quality caviar. Some countries, including Australia, have banned caviar imports, fearing unhygienic packaging in Russia and other exporting countries. Meanwhile, a quiet experiment was being conducted in France. I first ran across this in Sarlat in the Dordogne where a small fisheries museum showed how sturgeon once abounded in the country's rivers. Only a handful had survived in captivity, and a fish-tank of sturgeon in the now closed museum contained Siberian varieties. But now for the good news: France quietly imported a few baby sturgeon from Siberia, hoping they could cross-breed with French sturgeon. The Rhone basin rivers, after a long struggle against pollution, were again running clean. Some years ago the French government's fisheries research division established a hatchery near Bordeaux to handle the project. This has been sold to a local company, Le Caviar d'Aquitaine. What has happened since then makes a fascinating story. Jean Boucher, head of Le Caviar d'Aquitaine, found a top fisheries expert to run the operation: Alan Jones, an Englishman with a PhD in Fishery Science. Jones could see the challenge and joined the French company, now the biggest player in France. Working near Bordeaux where water is clean and clear, Le Caviar d'Aquitaine is producing premium grade caviar that retails for about Dollars 1,200 a kilogram. We met Jones at the hatchery where one of his staff was lifting a female sturgeon, nearly 5ft long, out of the water. "We are starting to produce caviar now, and have reached a one tonne production this year. It takes seven years to raise a sturgeon to the size that produces caviar but we were lucky to buy a lot of fish that were already four years old," said Jones. "In three years we should achieve our target production of five tonnes a year." Jones said there were three types of caviar: Sevruga, which has the smallest egg, is still the most plentiful and the cheapest; Oscietre, which holds the middle ground and is similar to that produced by the Siberian sturgeon being farmed in France; and Beluga, with big eggs and an even bigger price tag. The company has a contract to supply 6,000kg to Switzerland and 400kg to Germany next year, with the rest going to France, and later, Britain. The main demand is around Christmas and the advantage French and North American caviar producers have is that their product is reliable and fresh. "Our product is fresh, because immediately it is produced it is put into coldstores at -3Degrees C," says Jones. "The caviar is made by adding salt and borax as a preservative. It can rest in big tins for a year at these temperatures. Most Russian, Eastern Bloc and Iranian caviar is pasteurised, which makes it like a conserve. It can rest at ambient temperatures but is nothing like the fresh product. Some of it can be so heavily salted that this preserves the product but kills the flavour. We advise people to keep fresh caviar in the refrigerator between ODegrees C and 4Degrees C, and eat it within an hour of opening." I asked Jones what would happen if the Caspian became so polluted that all the sturgeon died out. "Production could still be saved, and I believe that is what will happen. We and the North Americans are getting good experience of farming, and the Iranians and Chinese are starting to show great interest also. "The problem is that very large investments are needed since it takes seven years before you get any return, and investors would think twice before putting money into China or Iran for this purpose." He said the hatchery raised fingerlings, which, when about 25g, were moved to growing sites in Charente Maritime. There they were put into raceways until they were two to three years old. They were sexed by measuring the concentration of testosterone in the blood or by ultra-sound scanning. At this stage males and females were separated into larger ponds - the females being moved into ponds that could be 2,000 sq metres in surface. The growth rate was about 1kg a year and fish could grow to between 7kg and 10kg. "When we start to take fish for caviar we use large sail-nets, take the fish out and again use the ultra-sound scanner to look into the fish to see if the eggs are ready. If they are, the fish are harvested, the eggs made into caviar and the rest of the fish sold to restaurants and up-market fish shops." Fish retained for breeding are left in the ponds much longer, and just before they would naturally release their eggs are given hormone shots and a small Caesarean operation to ensure the eggs are released without the fish being harmed. The breeding stock is then returned to the ponds, while the eggs, which are far more advanced than those used for caviar, are artificially fertilised in the hatchery. The French hatchery not only supplies the fingerlings for its own caviar and fish meat production, but also offers fingerlings to fish farmers around the world interested in raising sturgeon. So do not write off caviar yet. Juvenile sturgeon are still bred and released into the Caspian to try to avert the collapse of the industry and Iran has set up a programme to release 20m baby sturgeon over the next few years. In California, Stolt Seafarm, the biggest producer in the US, aims to produce substantial quantities of caviar and sturgeon meat. The Chinese are also taking caviar farming seriously. If these steps had not been implemented, sturgeon might have gone the same way as the dodo, and that, as the world's rich and famous will tell you, would be a great pity. Now, please pass the caviar and blinis. ********* Oil Lake under Grozny What The Papers Say, February 10, 2000 There have always been small-scale oil wells around Grozny. According to Major General Boris Alekseev, Head of the Environmental Safety Department of the Russian Armed Forces, currently there are over 2 billion tons of oil under Grozny. Thus, there is a real lake, consisting of subterranean waters and oil. According to some estimates, the lake's area is 30 square kilometers, and it is 12 meters deep. ******** RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 37, Part I, 22 February 2000 AZERBAIJAN, TURKMENISTAN AT ODDS OVER GAS EXPORT PIPELINE... Speaking to journalists in Tbilisi on 21 February, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze confirmed that "some problems" have arisen between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan over the use of the planned Trans-Caspian export gas pipeline, Russian agencies reported. Shevardnadze said the problems derived from the discovery last year of huge quantities of gas in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian. That discovery prompted Baku to demand 50 percent of the throughput capacity of the pipeline to export its own gas. Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov on 17 February said the Azerbaijani demand runs counter to Turkmenistan's interests and could render the entire project economically inexpedient, Interfax reported. According to a declaration of intent signed last November in Istanbul by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Turkey, a framework agreement on the Trans-Caspian pipeline was to have been concluded in April 2000. LF ...ENABLING RUSSIA TO MUSCLE IN. Also on 17 February, Niyazov declared that Turkmenistan is ready to export 100 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Russia, according to Interfax. Two days later, Niyazov discussed that possibility with visiting Gazprom chief Rem Vyakhirev, with whom he signed an agreement in December on the resumption of exports of Turkmen natural gas via Russia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 December 1999). Caucasus Press noted that Ashgabat will not be forced to renege on its previous agreement to export gas to Turkey, as Turkmen gas exported to Russia can be transported to Turkey through the Blue Stream pipeline across the Black Sea. Construction of that pipeline began earlier this month and is expected to be completed next year. LF ******** RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 4, No. 38, Part I, 23 February 2000 RUSSIAN MINISTER DISCUSSES ENERGY COOPERATION IN KAZAKHSTAN. Visiting Astana on 21-22 February, Russian Fuel and Energy Minister Viktor Kalyuzhnyi discussed bilateral cooperation in the energy sector with Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev and President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Russian agencies reported. Toqaev said after those talks that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium is "a national priority" for his country and the most feasible of all export pipeline options. Kalyuzhnyi told journalists that Russia may raise the current 9.5 million ton ceiling on exports of Kazakh crude via the Atyrau-Samara pipeline, whose throughput capacity will be increased to 15 million tons by the end of this year. Also discussed were the prospects for creating an energy union of which Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Belarus, and possibly Ukraine would be members, according to "Kommersant-Daily" on 23 February. Those states would coordinate a schedule for the supply and demand of oil, gas, coal, and electricity. LF |