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Каспинфо август 2001 |
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Название: Геополитичеекие проблемы. Материалы на англ. яз. Главные Пункты: * Туркменистан выступает против разработки Азербайджаном месторождения Кяпаз на Каспии, заявляя, что оно находится в его секторе, т.к. расположено в 100 км от Туркменистана и в 210 км от Азербайджана. * Официальные лица Азербайджана опровергли информацию о начале разработки структуры Гейгель на месторождении Кяпаз, на которое претендуют Иран и Туркменистан, т.к. ее не существует. * Инцидент 23 июля, когда иранский военный корабль приказал двум судам компании ВР, разрабатывающей месторождение Араз-Алов-Шарг, покинуть территорию, аналитики считают предсказуемым, и утверждают, что подобное может повториться на других спорных структурах, пока прикаспийские государства не придут к консенсусу в вопросе статуса Каспия. * и др. сообщения. (02.08.2001) Полный Текст Геополитичеекие проблемы. Материалы на англ. яз. Геополитические проблемы. Материалы на англ. яз. *** INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR CASPIAN STUDIES EURASIA is the official newsletter of IICS http://www.caspianstudies.com news@caspianstudies.com 1- Turkmens warn Azeris over disputed Caspian oil. By Marat Gurt 08/08/2001 Reuters English News Service ASHGABAT, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister issued a stark warning to Caspian neighbour Azerbaijan on Wednesday that an offshore oilfield which the Azeri state oil company seeks to develop has nothing to do with Azerbaijan. The warning comes as a dispute between the two former Soviet states intensifies over who owns what in the sea. It also follows a recent incident in which an Iranian gunboat ordered an oil exploration ship licensed by Azerbaijan out of what it considers its section of the oil-rich sea. "The opening by specialists from (Azeri state oil company) SOCAR of the so-called prospective Geigel structure, situated according to Baku in the southern Kyapaz field, is not a matter for discussion and has nothing whatsoever to do with Azerbaijan," Yelly Kurbanmuradov told Reuters in an interview. "The area is just 100 km (62 miles) from Turkmenistan's Caspian coast, and is 210 km from Azerbaijan," he said. The Turkmens call the field Serdar instead of Kyapaz and, Kurbanmuradov said, "beyond the slightest doubt it is Turkmen." The Caspian is surrounded by five countries - Russia, Iran and Kazakhstan as well as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan - and all of them want a share of the sea's huge mineral wealth. But the agreements on its status date from a Soviet era treaty when just two states, the Soviet Union and Iran, shared the sea. An Iranian deputy foreign minister is currently in Moscow for talks. Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has invited the heads of state of all five littoral countries to a summit in Ashgabat in October to try and hammer out a deal on the sea. But meanwhile disputes are becoming more frequent. In late July Ashgabat sent Baku a strongly worded protest note over Azerbaijan's claims to some fields. Azeri President Heydar Aliyev replied that Ashgabat was demonstrating "ambitions which do not correspond to international legal norms". (C) Reuters Limited 2001. *** 2- Tension between Azerbaijan and Iran in Caspian may affect TPAO's business: Turkey tells both Iran and Azerbaijan that the dispute should be solved by negotiations not by brute force Kemal Ilter, Ankara - Turkish Daily News The tension between Azerbaijan and Iran, which erupted two weeks ago in the Caspian sea concerning oil exploration in a controversial area (called "allov" by Azeris) by an international consortium, may affect the Turkish Petroleum Corporation's (TPAO) work as well as that of other members of the consortium, officials and experts told the Turkish Daily News. The latest bout of tension was sparked two weeks ago when Iranian gunboats drove off two vessels from Azerbaijan being used by an international consortium lead by BP to explore waters also claimed by Iran. The Caspian Sea has very rich natural resources and Azerbaijan has started operations for these resources. An important Azeri oil field close to the Iranian side called Araz-Allov-Chrag, estimated to be worth $9 billion, is the second biggest oil project in Azeri waters. The field is estimated to hold some 300 million metric tons of oil and 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Turkey has concerns Turkish diplomatic sources told the TDN that the continuation of the dispute over sharing the Caspian Sea would be a serious setback in the relations between those countries which have a coast on the Caspian Sea as well as TPAO's business in the region. The same source also confirmed for the TDN that Turkey had conveyed its concerns in a diplomatic manner to both Iranian and Azeri officials that the dispute should be solved only by negotiations not by brute force. He also warned that the Caspian region may become a new zone of instability, replicating the many wars which had sparked on the territory of the former Soviet Union if all side fails to reach a compromise. Consortium waits for peaceful solution The consortium, including Azeri oil company SOCAR, Turkey's TPAO ( has 10 percent share in this project), U.S. Exxon/Mobil, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Alberta Energy and BP, was conducting pre-sounding seismic studies of the sea bed before the commencement of the latest dispute. These studies are expected to take nearly one month. After these studies, the consortium was planning to start an exploratory well which is expected to take nearly nine months. After the recent development, BP announced that it was suspending sea-bed exploration for the foreseeable future, which means the exploration process will exceed the expected time frame, an expert from TPAO told the TDN. The consortium members have also decided not to speak publicly on this issue and are now waiting for the problem to be solved by negotiations between the relevant states. Turkish officials also hoped that the dispute could be solved at a summit that will be held in October in Turkmenistan. The status and sharing of the Caspian Sea There was no problem with the status of the Caspian Sea until 1990. Treaties signed in 1921 and 1940 called for the sharing of Caspian resources between Iran and the Soviet Union. But after the 1991 Soviet collapse, the newly independent states of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan joined Iran and Russia along the shores of the Caspian. The division of the Caspian between the five states remains unresolved despite protracted talks. "The five countries have not yet agreed on how to divide the sea's oil, fisheries and other resources. Summits called this year to decide the issue have been canceled twice and rescheduled most recently for October in Turkmenistan," an expert previously told TDN. Kazakh, Russian and Azeri leaders meeting last week at an informal summit in the southern Russian town of Sochi presented a united front on how the sea should be divided up. Analysts say unison means Iran is rapidly becoming the odd man out in the dispute, with its insistence that the Caspian is a lake and should be divided up in equal fifths. The other states have backed the idea the Caspian is indeed a sea and that another way of dividing the water should be used. This would give Iran less than a fifth of the waters and of its oil riches, something Tehran has so far vociferously rejected. Iran has pushed for division of the sea into five equal sectors. But Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan contend that the sea floor should be divided into national sectors -- which would leave Iran with the smallest slice -- while the water and fish should be available for common use. Turkmenistan appears to favor the Iranian proposal. 08/08/2001 Turkish Daily News Copyright (C) 2001 Turkish Daily News; Source: World Reporter (TM) *** AZERBAIJAN REJECTS MOST RECENT TURKMEN STATEMENT. Unnamed officials from Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR on 9 August denied that any structure named Geygel exists in the vicinity of the Kyapaz Caspian oilfield of which both Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan claim ownership, Turan reported. Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Yelly Gurbanmuradov had accused SOCAR the previous day of preparing to begin exploitation of that deposit (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 August 2001). He argued that since the field in question is only 100 kilometers from the coast of Turkmenistan and 210 kilometers from the Azerbaijani shore of the Caspian there can be "no doubt" that it belongs to Turkmenistan. LF RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 151, Part I, 10 August 2001 *** #9 ANALYSIS-Gunboat diplomacy reflects Caspian oil tension By Rosalind Russell TBILISI, July 25 (Reuters) - A confrontation between an Iranian gunboat And oil ships exploring Azeri-claimed Caspian waters was an incident waiting To happen due to squabbles over who owns what in the oil-rich sea, analysts Said on Wednesday. The spat would also make oil firms wary of crossing swords with the Countries around the sea, but major projects were likely to plough ahead, they added. The Iranian military on Monday ordered two ships operated by British oil giant BP to retreat from the disputed area which both Iran and Azerbaijan claim as their own. "This area is a key point of dispute," said Vincent Noual of consultants HIS Energy Group. "And BP got an immediate and clear response from the Iranians: stop." A BP-led consortium has a licence from the Azeri government to explore the area it calls the Araz-Alov-Sharg concession. But Tehran -- which calls the block Alborz -- has licenced it to an Iranian company. Part of the area is also contested by Turkmenistan on the Caspian's eastern shore. It is just one area of dispute in the landlocked sea. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Caspian's status was governed by agreements between the Soviet Union and Iran. Now there are five littoral states and so far they have failed to agree on how to divide it. But that has not stopped oil companies rushing in to sign deals. Another BP-led consortium has an $8-9 billion contract with the Azeri government to develop the huge Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli complex, despite Turkmenistan's claim to some of the same area. Other disputed acreage has been licensed by Azerbaijan to U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil, while the northern Caspian holds potential for spats between Russia and Kazakhstan. "It's a big mess," said Noual. "And there's been practically no progress at all towards sorting it out." TALKS GOING NOWHERE A new round of talks between the leaders of the five littoral states is expected to take place in October in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. While Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have found some common ground, the positions of Iran and Turkmenistan make any agreement unlikely, say analysts. "Right now there is not the slightest common denominator between them. In fact their views look more divergent than ever," said Jean-Christophe Fueg of the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Iran, which has been slower than others to exploit the Caspian, has Demanded a 20 percent area which analysts describe as "pure fantasy." Nevertheless, a carve up of the Caspian along median lines -- a system Which also divides up the North Sea -- would give Iran a bigger wedge of Territory which could include some of the Araz-Alov-Sharg concession, they say. "The 20 percent claim is certainly overdoing it," said Fueg. "But maybe the (military) show of strength is an effort to extract compromises in Ashgabat. BP HALTS WORK Meanwhile BP, which is in the middle of negotiating major upstream Contracts for two Iranian fields, one onshore and one in the Gulf, has suspended its operations in the disputed area. A BP spokesman said the company "expected to pursue its discussions with Iran separately from projects in the Caspian." But analysts said the threat of commercial retaliation from Iran was real And would keep oil companies wary. "I would not expect BP to jeopardise major business in Iran for the unknown prospects they have exploring Alov," said Noual. However, the Azeris remained defiant in their row with Iran. "Nobody, no state, no structure and no force can turn back the oil strategy that has been implemented since 1994," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Natik Aliyev, the head of Azeri state oil firm, SOCAR, as saying. *** GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY ON THE CASPIAN. On 23 July an Iranian jet overflew for several hours two research vessels under contract with British Petroleum and then an Iranian gunboat ordered them to withdraw northward out of disputed Caspian Sea waters. That evening, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade protested to Iranian Ambassador Ahmad Qazi, and he added that the Iranian actions were a "gross violation of international norms." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi responded the next day, according to IRNA, saying that "[w]e are deeply astonished with [the] Azeri hue and cry against measures taken by the Islamic Republic to defend its legitimate rights." The level of hostility in this recent incident may be surprising, since just a few days earlier Supreme National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani was in Baku and the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding that dealt with security issues (counter- narcotics and counter-terrorism). Yet Tehran and Baku have had disputes about the division of the Caspian Sea's resources in the past (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 19 February 2001). Under the current legal regime, Iran's share of the Caspian is limited to 13 percent. Tehran advocates a new arrangement by which each state bordering the Caspian would have a 20 percent share of the seabed, surface, and waters, and Iranian state radio reported on 23 July that in a meeting with British Ambassador Nick Browne, Rohani stated, "We will not allow any foreign company to operate within Iran's share in the Caspian Sea without having Iran's consent." In other words, Tehran is indicating that its division of the Caspian is a fait accompli. Iranian statements in the previous month and Azerbaijani allegations about Iranian military activities indicated heightened sensitivities. Washington's provision of a 16-meter cutter for Baku to patrol its borders met with an angry commentary from Iranian state radio's external English-language service on 17 June. In exchange for the cutter, according to the commentary, Baku would have to serve U.S. interests in the Caspian; this would enable Western countries to "further dominate the region," and it would contribute to militarization of the Caspian. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Euro-American Affairs Ali Ahani told the 25 June "Iran News" that Iran was against the militarization of the Caspian. And in late May, Baku's "Sharg" claimed that Iranian military units were massing near the border with Azerbaijan. (Bill Samii) RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC RFE/RL IRAN REPORT Vol. 4, No. 28, 30 July 2001 |