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Russia's New Reach: Gas Pipeleine to Turkey
ISTANBUL, June5-In early August, one of the world's largest and most advanced offshore platforms will slip beneath the two graceful suspension bridges spanning the Bosporus, with three feet of clearance, on its way to the Black Sea.
If everything goes as planned, a month later the huge rig will begin laying a pipeline at record depths of 7,000 feet in corrosive mud on the bottom of the great kidney-shaped sea to bring natural gas from Russia to energy-hungry Turkey.
The $3 billion project represents more than a daring engineering feat. Its success would setback American efforts to curtail Russia's influence in one of the world's most strategic areas.
"Both economically and politcally, this project is extremely signiciant for Russia. It's a major coup for Russia," an analyst from the Brookings Institute in Washington D.C. was quoted.
The pipeline would increase Turkey's dependence on Russian natural gas from current levels to around 80 percent. From the outset, American diplomats have warned that it would give much leverage over Turkey.
Washington and Moscow have been at odds for years over the development of energy in the Caspian basin, which could hold the key to prosperity and stability in a troubled swath of land sweeping from Turkey through the Caucasus and Central Asia to China's western border. Four nations bordering the the region have nuclear weapons-China, Russia, India and Pakistan-and Turkey is a NATO ally mired in an economic crisis.
Few nations are more vulnerable to energy blackmail than Turkey, which imports 98 percent of its energy. Since it began phasing out coal in the 1980's, demand for gas has increased steadily. Two-thirds of Turkey's gas comes from Russia through two existing pipelines, and demand is expected to quadruple by 2010.
To meet Turkey's rising needs for gas, the American government had favored a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Turkey that would cross the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia-totally bypassing Russia. Turkmenistan has ample natural gas, and western companies were willing to finance and build the line.
The demise of the American favored pipeline means that Turkmenistan will
probably sell its gas to Russia increasing Moscow's control over supplies in
the region, or to Iran, BOTH prospects that dismay American officals.
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