| Author (Person) | Carstens, Karen |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.41, 4.12.03, p30 |
| Publication Date | 04/12/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Karen Carstens Date: 04/12/03 GREEN and human rights groups have praised UK bank Barclays for deciding not to offer a loan to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) crude oil pipeline. But the bank and the project's organizers insist it was never even in the running as a potential co-financier of the &036;2.9 billion (€2.4 billion) investment to unlock a vast store of energy from the Caspian Sea. The proposed 1,760 kilometre pipeline, running from close to the Azerbaijani capital, through Georgia and eastern Turkey, to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, is one of several projects that aim to bring the region's oil and gas to the EU and other western markets. Two other oil pipelines leading to Black Sea ports - the Northern Route Export Pipeline (NREP) and the Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP) - are already in operation, and a separate South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) is in the planning stages. Friends of the Earth, along with regional citizens' and human rights' groups, have warned that the BTC scheme would cause environmental damage and risk undermining human rights and "destabilizing the conflict-prone region". Kerim Yildiz, director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, claimed the pipeline would "cause human rights abuses along its whole route". In Turkey, he added, "it will be guarded by the gendarmerie, which has been repeatedly criticized for its appalling human rights record. "If banks provide loans to it, they will be publicly associated with the human rights violations that occur as a result." Greg Muttitt, of human rights group Platform, said: "This is a heavily political project, driven - sometimes coercively - by US oil interests." Barclays has declined to specify its reason for staying out of the project, saying only that "it's one we haven't gone for". However, the groups say Barclays has told them that all projects it considers participating in are considered in accordance with its risk management policies and the "Equator Principles". Barclays is one of four banks which drafted the Equator Principles, a set of voluntary environmental and social guidelines on project finance. The code has now been adopted by 18 banks. Campaigners hope the bank's decision not to back the BTC scheme will put its rivals under pressure to follow its lead. US-based Citigroup and Dutch bank ABN Amro, which also co-drafted the principles, last month agreed to arrange loans for the pipeline, to the dismay of environmentalists. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation have also approved credit of up to €250 million for the project.A source close to the scheme said that it was now "oversubscribed" in private funding terms, meaning it is almost certain to go-ahead. The BTC pipeline will be able to transport up to one million barrels of crude oil per day from a cluster of discoveries in the Caspian Sea, known collectively as the Azeri, Chirag, Gunashli (ACG) field. "By creating the first direct pipeline link between the landlocked Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean, the BTC project will bring positive economic advantage to the region and avoid increasing oil traffic through the vulnerable Turkish Straits," the project's organizers said. "A programme of social and environmental investment will ensure that the peoples of the three host nations also share in the benefits." The BTC pipeline is due to become fully operational by early 2005. |
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| Subject Categories | Energy, Environment |
