Analysis: energy pipeline that supplies West threatened by war Georgia conflict

[tannybogus]

The conflict that has erupted in the Caucasus has set alarm bells ringing because of Georgia's pivotal role in the global energy market.

Georgia has no significant oil or gas reserves of its own but it is a key transit point for oil from the Caspian and central Asia destined for Europe and the US.

Crucially, it is the only practical route from this increasingly important producer region that avoids both Russia and Iran.

The 1,770km (1,100 miles) Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which entered service only last year, pumps up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from Baku in Azerbaijan to Yumurtalik, Turkey, where it is loaded on to supertankers for delivery to Europe and the US. Around 249km of the route passes through Georgia, with parts running only 55km from South Ossetia.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4484849.ece

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

1. Considering the US invaded Afghanistan because of a goddamn oil & gas pipeline

It wouldn't be surprising at all to see Russia do the same thing.