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Каспинфо апрель 2001 |
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Название: Короткие сообщения. Материалы на английском Главные Пункты: * Президент РФ В.Путин и туркменский лидер С. Ниязов договорились об очередном переносе саммита прикаспийских государств. * И. Алиев, вице-президент азербайджанской государственной нефтяной компании СОКАР, заявил, что любое соглашение о разработке месторождения Кьяпаз/Сердар может быть подписано только с согласия азербайджанской стороны. * и другие сообщения. (11.04.2001) Полный Текст Короткие сообщения. Материалы на английском Короткие сообщения. Материалы на английском. *** CASPIAN SUMMIT AGAIN POSTPONED. President Putin and his Turkmen counterpart Saparmurat Niyazov on 7 April agreed to postpone the summit of Caspian littoral states until the fall, ITAR-TASS reported on 7 April. The meeting had originally been set for 8-9 March and then was postponed until 14-15 April at Iran's request (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 February 2001). These postponements highlight the continuing lack of agreement among the countries involved on the legal status of the sea and sea bed. PG AZERBAIJAN DISMISSES NEW TURKMEN CLAIMS ON DISPUTED OIL FIELD. Ilham Aliev, the first vice president of Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, told journalists in Baku on 6 April that Turkmen claims on the Kyapaz/Serdar Caspian oil field are politically motivated "nonsense," Interfax and Turan reported. Aliev said that no foreign company would sign a contract to develop that field, of which both countries claim ownership, without Baku's permission. He also noted that Turkmenistan has neither the drilling platform with which to develop the field nor undersea pipelines to transport the oil from it. On 30 March, Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Elly Gurbanmuradov announced that Ashgabat plans to sign a contract with unnamed Western oil companies to develop the disputed deposit, which is believed to hold reserves of 100 million tons of oil. Azerbaijani officials have on several occasions proposed that the two countries jointly develop the field (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 August 1997 and 6 September 2000). LF TURKEY SEEKS TO LIMIT KAZAKH OIL TRANSIT... Over the past 10 days, Kazakh and Russian officials have criticized Turkey's warning that it may restrict or ban completely the passage through the Turkish Straits of tankers containing Kazakh oil from the Tengiz field. On 28 March, two days after the official inauguration of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) that will transport crude from Tengiz to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, Turkish State Minister Ramazan Mirzaoglu warned that the export of Kazakh oil could double the number of tankers that transit the straits each day, thereby increasing the threat to Istanbul and its population in the event of an accident or collision. LF ...TRIGGERING PROTESTS IN ASTANA, MOSCOW. Speaking in Astana on 30 March, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov affirmed that the CPC will go ahead with its plans to export oil by tanker from Novorossiisk, Interfax reported. On 4 April, an official at the Moscow office of Chevron, the senior partner in the consortium developing Tengiz, denied that Tengiz oil will double the number of tankers transiting the Turkish Straits, adding that at least initially, only one tanker loaded with Tengiz crude will leave Novorossiisk every second day. Caucasus Press on 3 April quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Kalyuzhnyi as saying he does not believe Ankara has the right to restrict passage through the Turkish Straits. (The 1936 Treaty of Montreux, to which Turkey is a signatory, provides for the unrestricted passage of shipping through the straits.) On 5 April, Caucasus Press quoted unnamed observers as suggesting that the Turkish warning may have been intended to pressure Kazakhstan to make a firm commitment to export Tengiz oil via the planned Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. LF |