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Pipe dreams: BP's Baku pipeline has begun pumping oil. But willAzerb

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  • Pipe dreams: BP's Baku pipeline has begun pumping oil. But willAzerb

    Pipe dreams: BP's Baku pipeline has begun pumping oil. But will
    Azerbaijan benefit from the wealth that will follow? Paul Brown
    reports

    The Guardian - United Kingdom
    Jun 01, 2005

    There are 800 manmade lakes on the edge of the Caspian Sea in an
    area that is known simply as Twenty. The lakes contain oil, tar and
    raw sewage as well as water - a mixture that in the summer months
    provides potent fumes and a breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes.

    On parts of the site - which, established in 1847, is the oldest oil
    field in the world - a few remaining productive wells still work,
    with "nodding donkeys" pumping up the last of the oil.

    A few miles from this suburb of Azerbaijan's capital Baku, in the
    country's section of the Caspian Sea, a newer story is unfolding.

    British Petroleum is developing what it says is a state-of-the-art,
    nearly pollution-free oilfield that will connect to the controversial
    but almost complete 1,762km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline,
    which stretches from Azerbaijan to Turkey.

    Last week the oil finally started to flow through the pipe towards
    the Mediterranean where it will then travel by tanker to the UK to
    be refined and keep Britain's cars and aeroplanes running.

    Before arriving at the new sea terminal, the pipeline runs through
    environmentally sensitive areas in Georgia and has raised concerns
    about the human rights of local villagers in Turkey. But BP believes
    that all these problems have been settled and says the pipeline's
    advantage is that it avoids taking more oil tankers from the Black
    Sea through the Bosporus strait. It describes BTC as the largest
    energy project in the world.

    Indeed, the pipeline will transport a million barrels of oil a day,
    enough to turn impoverished Azerbaijan into a wealthy country almost
    overnight. By 2007 it will have an income of $7bn (pounds 3.8bn)
    a year, even if oil falls back from its current price of almost $50
    a barrel to a modest $25 a barrel. But despite predictions of untold
    wealth, there are concerns over whether the oil that will keep the
    UK running will be a blessing or a curse for its country of origin.

    Inayat Mehtiyeva, whose shop is a few yards from the nearest oil lake
    that is fed by raw sewage from houses further up the hill, explains
    that, so far, no benefits can be seen. She says people rarely pay
    for the bread from her shop. "There is not much money, we operate a
    barter system. We swap things. Some people take bread and say they
    will pay later but they never come back. We really depend on God here."

    Along with 80% of the other residents of Twenty, Mehtiyeva is a
    refugee. She has lived there for 12 years after fleeing from her home
    in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave of Azerbaijan on the border with
    neighbouring Armenia, during the war between the two countries. UN
    agencies say Armenia still occupies 14% of Azerbaijan, although the
    Azeri government claims it is 20%.

    Mehtiyeva, whose first name means faith, hopes that one day, with
    her two sons, she can return home where life was simple but good.
    "Perhaps the oil money will help, but I do not know how. I know I
    cannot stay here. At the first opportunity, I will flee."

    Hasay Hasanov, a shipyard worker who works next to area Twenty,
    says his $100 a month pay is not enough. He is worried that his two
    children might catch malaria and wants the old oilfield cleaned up,
    but he does not think he will see any benefit from the new oil money.
    "What we want is a decent wage - $300 a month - so we can afford more
    than just paying the rent and buying food."

    The World Bank's country manager for Azerbaijan, Ahmed Jehani, is
    unsure whether the oil will be "a benefit or a curse". He is afraid
    that other industries will wither away if the country relies on oil
    revenue alone. Politicians might become less responsive to the needs
    of the people, he says, because they would no longer rely on them for
    taxes. Rich resources could also lead to ethnic and other tensions,
    especially if the benefits are not shared.

    Added to this are doubts about whether democracy in Azerbaijan is
    robust following the country's election in October 2003. President
    Ilham Aliyev was voted in after the death of his father Heydar,
    whose giant presidential portraits still appear in their thousands
    all across the capital.

    Furthermore, according to Transparency International's 2004 index,
    Azerbaijan is one of the world's most corrupt countries. "This is
    a major concern of the World Bank," says Jehani. "We need to get
    accountability in elections, in the assets. There is a deficiency of
    justice, access to courts, and lack of general transparency."

    Jehani is hopeful, however. The government has set up an oil fund
    which will publish all the details of money coming in and where it
    is invested. "This is a shining example of what can be done. Let us
    hope that temptations to divert money away from long-term investment
    do not prove too strong," he says.

    T oday's oil boom in Baku is not the first. At the end of the 19th
    century, Azerbaijan provided more than half the world's oil, and 60%
    of Britain's oil. It supplied the cash for some of the most sumptuous
    Victorian stately homes in Britain, but left Baku with a legacy of
    oil pollution that the Soviet empire added to and left behind.

    As Azerbaijan returns to an oil boom, it will again bolster profits
    far away, notably those of BP. But the oil from the new fields is
    expected to last only until 2020, after which time the country will
    produce just enough for the needs of its 8 million people.

    Jehani sums up: "It is a question of whether the money generated
    from these 15 years of the second oil boom will be invested to turn
    Azerbaijan into a modern and wealthy state, or whether it will be an
    opportunity wasted."

    Twenty vision: Baku's manmade oil lake Photograph: Valentin Yemelin
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