Date: 07 Mar 2000
Time: 13:31:59
Remote Name: 156.29.145.175
KAZAKHSTAN: By Mike Collett-White
03/07/2000 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2000.
ALMATY, March 7 (Reuters) - Iran 's influence in the Caspian region is set to gain from recent setbacks for U.S.-backed oil and gas pipelines and growing confidence in domestic reforms, Iranian officials based in Central Asia said on Tuesday.
Reza Majedi, head of state oil company NIOC's representation in Kazakhstan, said that differences between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan over a natural gas export project being pushed by Washington raised serious doubts over its feasibility.
"As you know, gas discoveries in Azerbaijan have meant that they want a half share in the project, but Turkmen President (Saparmurat) Niyazov will not agree to this," he told reporters. "I think that this works in Iran 's favour."
The United States, keen to sideline Iran and Russia from the region, has pushed hard for a gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan on the east of the Caspian , across the sea bed and on to Turkey via Azerbaijan.
Niyazov berated U.S. Caspian adviser John Wolf recently, saying he was to blame for delays in the $2.0-2.5 billion project and for urging Azerbaijan to bargain for a bigger share.
He said Turkmenistan would be prepared to give up just one sixth of the pipeline's capacity to the Azeris.
The most immediate winner from the stalled trans- Caspian route was Russia, with Niyazov signing a major Turkmen export deal through gas monopoly Gazprom's sprawling pipeline system. But Iran could also benefit, Majedi said.
"We have already studied the Iranian route for Turkmen gas, and if Turkmenistan is willing to transfer gas via Iran to Turkey then everything is in place."
HOPES FOR OIL THROUGH IRAN AS WELL
Iran represents the shortest and most economic route to world markets for Central Asia's huge oil reserves, but the path has been blocked so far by U.S. trade sanctions prohibiting virtually all commercial transactions with Tehran.
Hassan Ghashghari, Iran 's outgoing ambassador to Kazakhstan, told the same news briefing that February's parliamentary elections in which he won a seat were a further sign that the country's political and economic isolation was ending.
"There is an increasing number of businessmen in the United States speaking out against the pointlessness of the embargo against Iran ," he said, adding that Iran boasted proximity to growing markets in southeast Asia and political stability.
Majedi said Iran had developed a three-phase strategy for boosting exports of Kazakh and Turkmen oil to Iran , through swap deals as well as direct deliveries to Iran 's southern coast.
He said this would be needed in addition to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, a pipeline from Kazakhstan's Tengiz field to Russia's Black Sea coast due to be completed next year.
The strategy again brings Iran into direct competition with the United States, which is backing a new pipeline from the Azeri capital Baku on the west of the Caspian through Georgia and on to Turkey's Mediterranean oil export outlet of Ceyhan.
Additional volumes of oil from Kazakhstan, possibly via another trans- Caspian pipeline, may also feed into the link.
"As you know, the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is not yet finalised," Majedi said.
The estimated cost of up to $2.4 billion has raised doubts among energy analysts as to whether it would be built. Investors are awaiting parliamentary ratifications from all three countries involved before beginning the search for finance.