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fyi- Some background to struggle today among Russia, Iran, Turkey, US.. " AP (Mar. 8, 2001) – The United States, Russia and Iran are competing for the right to bring that fuel to the hungry markets of the West, and experts say a U.S.-backed plan to ship the oil via Turkey, bypassing Russia, is slowly gaining the upper hand. Oil companies could begin drawing up plans for a 1,080-mile pipeline from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan as early as June. If it progresses on schedule, construction could begin by summer 2002, and oil could flow before the end of 2004. <snip> Although the Clinton administration strongly backed the project, the new U.S. administration has yet to put its weight behind the plan. <snip> [O]il company officials, many of whom have backed an Iranian plan - the cheapest option - have begun to realize that Azerbaijan will not budge on its insistence that its oil - and its economic future - be tied to the West and not Russia or Iran. <snip> Russia insists the oil should run to its port of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea. That option could cost as little as half the $3 per barrel that Baku-Ceyhan is expected to cost. <snip> Azerbaijan's southern neighbor, Iran, has proposed the oil be sent by barges across the Caspian to northern Iran, where there have been oil shortages. An equal amount of oil would then be shipped to the West from Iranian oil fields, some 400 miles to the south. That option is by far the cheapest, but Azeri and so far, U.S. officials, will not even consider it. " http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/94/115/01_97_m.html (Euro vs dollar? ) _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk