It's Official: The Caspian is a Terrorist Target
The surprise isn't that terrorists appear to be responsible for an explosion that has shut down the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and sent world oil prices up. It's that no such attack occurred earlier in the Caspian Sea region.
On Tuesday, a pump near the eastern Turkish town of Refahiye blew up. The thousand-mile pipeline, which connects the Caspian and Mediterranean seas and ships a million barrels of oil a day, could be shut for two weeks.
A Kurdish rebel group known as the PKK says it's responsible for the explosion.
If accurate, the attack underlines the vast target presented by the energy infrastructure that's gone up on both sides of the Caspian, and on into Turkey, since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
During the 11 years I lived on the Caspian, I frequently asked oilmen and diplomats about any precautions being undertaken to prevent terrorism, say, at the Tengiz and Kashagan oilfields in Kazakhstan, and the offshore Baku fields in Azerbaijan. After all, the Caspian is just north of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with all that implies. These fields currently export about 1.3 million barrels of oil a day, and the volume will increase to about 4 million barrels a day in about a decade or so.
I never got back anything but blank stares. I assumed that meant the threat was understood, but that no one was going to discuss preventive measures in place.
But this week's blast makes me wonder. BP deliberately built the pipeline underground, mostly to prevent the siphoning off of oil by thieves, and to forestall attacks by the various militant groups that populate the Caucasus and Turkey.
The vulnerable spots were always the eight pump stations along the route -- they are completely in the open. NATO and the U.S. had sent trainers to help assemble a strong protective force for the entire infrastructure, and I had assumed they were particularly concentrated at the pump stations.
Security may be particularly tight at the stations. But the apparent attack shows that the infrastructure remains vulnerable.
On Tuesday, a pump near the eastern Turkish town of Refahiye blew up. The thousand-mile pipeline, which connects the Caspian and Mediterranean seas and ships a million barrels of oil a day, could be shut for two weeks.
A Kurdish rebel group known as the PKK says it's responsible for the explosion.
If accurate, the attack underlines the vast target presented by the energy infrastructure that's gone up on both sides of the Caspian, and on into Turkey, since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
During the 11 years I lived on the Caspian, I frequently asked oilmen and diplomats about any precautions being undertaken to prevent terrorism, say, at the Tengiz and Kashagan oilfields in Kazakhstan, and the offshore Baku fields in Azerbaijan. After all, the Caspian is just north of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with all that implies. These fields currently export about 1.3 million barrels of oil a day, and the volume will increase to about 4 million barrels a day in about a decade or so.
I never got back anything but blank stares. I assumed that meant the threat was understood, but that no one was going to discuss preventive measures in place.
But this week's blast makes me wonder. BP deliberately built the pipeline underground, mostly to prevent the siphoning off of oil by thieves, and to forestall attacks by the various militant groups that populate the Caucasus and Turkey.
The vulnerable spots were always the eight pump stations along the route -- they are completely in the open. NATO and the U.S. had sent trainers to help assemble a strong protective force for the entire infrastructure, and I had assumed they were particularly concentrated at the pump stations.
Security may be particularly tight at the stations. But the apparent attack shows that the infrastructure remains vulnerable.
Labels: baku-ceyhan, btc, Caspian, oil, pkk, putin's labyrinth, Russia, terrorism
6 Comments:
This would be the second time in about a year that the PKK has tried to influence Turkey's international standing. I would consider their relentless cross-border attacks from Kurdistan, which prompted Turkey's invasion of Iraq, to be of a similar type.
I wonder why they would choose to go after oil wealth, though. When they were just bombing outposts and sometimes government offices, most of the international community ignored them. Going after oil pipelines puts them right in the center of a very angry group of countries.
Wild speculation: I wonder if anyone *outside* of Turkey might have pushed this? Not Iran, since they have issues with Lefty Kurdish groups, but someone else? That kind of thinking is just idle, though.
Hi Josh.
The Turkish newspapers are positing the outside force angle. You can guess who their Villain No. 1 is. I think the wait-and-see mode is probably advisable.
Thanks for the visit and best Steve
So, Steve, since when did you interpret "blank stares" by oilmen as understanding? Or are you just being disingenuous?
Fact is pipelines and associated facilities are notoriously difficult to protect, but easy to repair. Time to build more tankage at Sangachal and Ceyhan.
Pardon my ignorance, Steve. But who would be Turkey's no. 1 villain? The US? Iran?
Hi ECC: Hahaha. The first time I saw that blank stare I wondered whether it was the usual type of blank stare -- meaning, What the ...
After I saw that stare quite a few times, I could not imagine that the security of the facilities against was not a primary concern. That is when I decided that this was some type of new blank stare with which I had not previously come in contact.
Free agent: That was not an attempt to be cute. A couple of Turkish papers I read are blaming Armenia.
Thanks for the comments, Steve
What do you think the PKK might want? To dominate the flow of oil using a different pipeline? What is the meaning of this if there is one?
The PKK was supported by the US to be a presence at the Iraq border with Iran last time I looked.
Talker
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