Why Putin Tied the Energy Knot With Ankara--Daily Star

[Gloria]

Two more articles related to Putin's moves up now in the new World Media Watch http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com



2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, December 08, 2004

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=10781



ANALYSIS: WHY PUTIN TIED THE ENERGY KNOT WITH ANKARA

By Paul de Zardain
Special to The Daily Star



MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey this week deserves the label of historic. For centuries, Russia and the Ottoman Empire clashed along geographic fault lines. The Soviet breakup in 1991 reawakened old ghosts in the Caucasus and Balkans. Some argue that even Ukraine's "orange revolution," playing out in Kiev these days, is yet another moving piece.



Until this week, the distrust between Moscow and Ankara ran deep. The war in Chechnya has further frayed relations. But considering that bilateral trade is forecast to reach $10 billion in 2004, it no longer makes sense to ignore each other.



Turkey is a key piece in Putin's overall strategy to re-establish a sphere of influence. Behind the Kremlin's rhetoric against a unipolar world is not only veiled criticism of U.S. hegemony, but a reminder that Siberian fields hold the largest deposits of natural gas.



This is no idle talk. A global switchover at electricity plants from oil to natural gas has already begun. And Russia is by far the largest source of European gasoil imports (390,000 barrels per day in 2002, or 80 percent of West European imports). Gazprom, Russia's state-owned giant, is responsible for European energy security. But in order to stay competitive, Russian energy firms need full-scale pipeline infrastructure.



Blue Stream, a pipeline through the Black Sea, carried 1.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian natural gas to Turkey in 2003. Exports this year will likely reach 2 bcm. Gazprom's CEO Aleksei Miller is especially interested in Turkish distribution networks. Prior to Putin's visit, Miller met with Mehmed Gueler, Turkey's Energy Minister, to discuss investment opportunities.



For years, Russian investors have placed bids on Turkish electricity plants, oil refineries and LNG projects. But privatization in the 1990's was trumped by political instability in Ankara. As a bargaining tool, the Turkish side never tires of bringing up tanker traffic volume in the Bosphorus. Developing safer pipeline infrastructure is now in both parties' interest.

(MORE)

[livinbella]

1. Putin is eating our lunch

Russian and China are coming on strong.
It's like they came from out of nowhere.
Checkmated by the pawn!

[mmonk]

2. The war for hegemony

may be won by soft power (economic) rather than bush's hard power (militarily). That will mean Iraq will have been for nothing (along with all those bases in the former soviet republics).

[Gloria]

3. Kicking...because it's news to know....

eom