SADDAM HUSSEIN IS THE HOPE OF AZERBAIJANI OIL INDUSTRY

Overthrow of the Baghdadi dictator may lead to the failure of the "Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan" project.

A manifestation of protest against the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was held Tuesday in Tbilisi. The action organized by the ''Green Alternative'' association and 'For Just Georgia'' movement was held behind the Tbilisi office of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. Georgian ecologists demand that the bank refuse financing of the construction of the oil pipeline, as it represents a threat for the ecology of the country and the whole region.

March 26, 2003

PanARMENIAN.Net - Participants of the action held recently in London had the same demands. Leader of the Green party of Georgia, Georgi Gachechiladze said that the main objective of the movement initiated by him was to stop the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. To all appearances, the recent global changes in the world will help the opponents of the ''century's project'' to fulfill their plans. On Monday the ''MPA'' agency, quoting some sources in the Georgian international oil corporation, informed that the construction of the pipeline would be postponed. Because of the military operation in Iraq, the supply to Georgia of pipes and equipment necessary for assemblage works has been stopped. It is being informed that the Iskenderun Turkish port, from where the pipes were being delivered to Poti, is busy now with the US military ships.

Many foreign experts were forecasting a negative perspective for implementation of the Baku-Tbilsi-Ceyhan project. Recently the Director of the Institute of CIS countries Konstantin Zatulin expressed such a point of view. According to him, ''If the USA starts to control the oil resources of Iraq, the project of the oil pipeline construction will loose its economic importance''. Americans, once having oppressed the Saddam regime, are intending to create conditions for the cheap Iraqi oil to return to world market. In that case, the transportation of the Azerbaijani oil will become senseless. It is known that the primary cost of the Azerbaijani crude oil will be 7 times more than the Iraqi oil which, besides, has a higher quality. Besides, almost $3,5 billion are necessary for the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project, while an oil pipeline from Iraq to Ceyhan already exists.

Not long ago in an interview with the Associated Press, the director of the Turkish project of the Washington Center for Strategic and International Researches Bulent Alirza said that ''if Iraq liberates from the regime of Saddam, it will lead to changes in the energy map of the world and a question will rise, whether it is better to have an Iraqi oil worth $1 for a barrel or the Azerbaijani oil – for $6,75''. Some Azerbaijani politicians and political scientists are also pessimistic: ''After the Iraqi war OPEK will not be able to regulate the oil market, which will fall, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project will automatically die off,'' Co-Chairman of the Social-Democratic party of Azerbaijan Zardusht Alizade believes.

So, it becomes evident that Saddam Hussein is the guaranty for the profitability of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project and the sooner the Baghdadi dictator's regime falls the less will be the chances for implementation of this project, which has no future from the commercial pint of view.