Re: oil, map with eight routes, published May/June 2001

Here's a retired U.S. military officer's opinion of the various routes (he
actually has a map of eight routes):

"Hydrocarbons and a New Strategic Region: The Caspian Sea and Central Asia," 
by Lieutenant Colonel Lester W. Grau, US Army, Retire (In Military Review,
"The Professional Journal of the United States Army", May/June, 2001)
http://www.cgsc.army.mil/milrev/English/MayJun01/grau.htm





At 12:02 PM 10/25/01 -0700, you wrote:
>I just took a look at "Taliban" by Rashid yesterday, as well as the piece
>on Caspian basin energy in the Sept/Oct Foreign Affairs.
>
>Neither provides any strong evidence that the U.S. is intervening in
>Afghanistan for oil.  Yes, Unocal would like to build a pipeline (for
>gas, not oil), but Rashid describes their lack of ability to influence
>U.S. policy.  The main pipeline routes from the Caspian do not go through
>Afghanistan -- the U.S. has been trying to establish a route through
>Azerbaijan and Georgia and mainly Turkey, the BTC line
>(Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan).  The CPC line, from the Tengiz oil field in
>Kazakhstan to the Black Sea, is in service, a joint venture of Russia,
>Kazakhstan, Oman and several oil companies, including Chevron, ExxonMobil,
>and LukArco.  Not the remotest connection to Afghanistan.
>
>When the U.S. starts joining Russia in subduing Chechnyan rebels, or
>pacifying Nagorno-Karabakh (an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan) we'll know
>we have a war for oil going on, as those spots abut planned pipelines
>running west from the Caspian.
>
>RH
>