CENN – SEPTEMBER 15, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. BTC Oil Pipeline Construction Goes within Schedule
2. BTC Main Pumping Station Built on Sangachal Terminal
3. Georgia to Collaborate with Iran in Tourism Sector
4. Russian Energy Chief Laments Georgian “Aggression”
5. 24th International Ornithological Congress
1. BTC OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION GOES WITHIN SCHEDULE
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 14, 2004
Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to be completed in
first half 2005, goes within the schedule, and over 75 % of works have
been already completed.
1695 km of pipeline is prepared for laying, 1583 km – for welding, 1487
km dug for ditch, 875 km of pipe laid, AzerTAj correspondent learnt from
Company’s press-service.
2. BTC MAIN PUMPING STATION BUILT ON SANGACHAL TERMINAL
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 14, 2004
85% of construction works were completed in the main pumping station of
Sangachal terminal, envisaged for Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export oil
pipeline.
Building of pumping cover at 14 m height and the first three main pumps
for oil export in “Central Azeri” part of this station have been already
constructed, another two pumps will be delivered to the terminal late
2004, AzerTAj correspondent learnt from press-service of BP company.
Assemblage of steel construction is going on.
3. GEORGIA TO COLLABORATE WITH IRAN IN TOURISM SECTOR
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 14, 2004
Chairman of the State Department of Georgia for resorts and tourism Saba
Kinknadze stated that Iran shows interest in tourism sector of Georgia,
AzerTAj correspondent reported. According to Mr. Kinknadze, Georgian
delegation will visit Iran on September 24, 2004 and learn the
experience of this country in developing culture and historical tourism.
4. RUSSIAN ENERGY CHIEF LAMENTS GEORGIAN “AGGRESSION”
Source: RAO’s website, September 14, 2004, #174 (0698)
The head of RAO-UES in Georgia Andrei Rappaport says that he is no
longer comfortable in Georgia owing to the “aggression” of the Georgian
government.
RAO-UES owns Telasi, the energy company which distributes electricity in
Tbilisi, but Rappaport, who is a deputy head of the Russian company and
head of its activities in Georgia, says that he is opposed to further
investment in the Georgian energy sector owing to the current situation.
“In Armenia, they are very kind to us. If there is any problem it is
solved at once,” Rappaport said in a wide-ranging interview with the
Russian paper Gazeta concerning the company’s activities. The interview
was also published on RAO-UES’s website.
“I cannot say that we are broadening exports in Georgia, we are just
stabilizing the situation,” Rappaport said
He added that income from RAO-UES’s Armenian utility is about USD 80
million but only USD 15 million in Georgia. “They have problem paying
money in Georgia and Georgia has about 53 million lari in debts. We also
have problems with local authorities, there is some aggression toward
us, but it is unclear what the cause of it is since Georgia is eager to
welcome new investors in the country,” Rappaport said.
“As I have declared at my last negotiations with Georgian authorities, I
am not feeling very comfortable, so I am not planning any serious
investment in Georgia. Our position is based on business logic – if you
want energy pay for it, and if there is not any money to pay, then
good-bye,” he told Gazeta.
Last summer, RAO-UES took over the Telasi electric company from the
American firm AES.
As for specific examples of aggression, Rappaport said, “for instance
the tax police tries to block our account numbers of the company. The
situation is as follows. The budget owes us about GEL 5 million for the
import of energy but we also have to pay to the budget the amount of 3
million lari for tax payments.”
“We will not pay taxes until Georgia will pay us what they own.
Moreover, some authorities of the Georgian government try to revise the
negotiations that was signed before. We have already paid all debts in
the amount of 40 million dollars and we are going to appeal to the court
of London,” Rappaport said.
Analysts forecast that Rappaport’s statements could reflect major
problems within the Georgian energy sector, as he is chairman of the
supervisory boards of both the biggest electricity company Telasi and
the joint Georgian-Russian company Sakrusenergo.
Furthermore, he is the only person entrusted by Russian electricity
companies to resolve difficulties in Georgia; and intended this week to
hold negotiations with the Georgian government regarding Georgia’s debts
to Russia, although later he postponed his meeting and now intends to
meet the representatives of Georgia during the CIS Summit in Astana,
Kazakhstan.
Part of this debt is due to rehabilitation work carried out on
high-voltage lines in Abkhazia in 2000. The Ministry of Energy agreed
that the work would be partly financed by Sakrusenergo, which
contributed USD 180,000, and partly by the Abkhaz Energy Company
ChernomorEnergo, which received USD 600,000 from the Russian Energy
Ministry towards the project of rehabilitating the lines that connected
Enguri and Sochi.
The head of Sakrusenergo Gia Maisuradze told Georgian television that
“the Georgian side agreed during negotiations with the Abkhaz side to
help to restore the electricity lines that were destroyed during the
war. The then-Minister of Energy David Mirtskhulava issued a decree and
I was obliged to follow it, though these lines did not belong to the
company.”
This restored line is now a subject of controversy, as it is believed by
Georgia that it is being used to illegally move electricity from Georgia
to Abkhazia.
“The energy that is used by Abkhazia is equal to the energy that is used
by nearly the whole of Georgia. Then the Abkhaz sell this energy in
Russia and afterwards we buy the same energy back at much higher
prices,” the president Mikheil Saakashvili told members of the Abkhaz
Supreme Council on Friday.
As reports Rustavi-2, a General Prosecutor’s Office investigation found
that much of the energy produced by Enguri Hydroelectric station was
being moved to Russia through Abkhazia, after which Georgia was buying
it back at higher prices.
The investigation found that several intermediary firms, headed by
Georgian and Russian officials, were exploiting this difference in price
to make very high profits. Among these companies, the most famous is
Winfield, which was founded in 2000 (the year the Georgian government
contributed to rehabilitating the electricity lines in Abkhazia) and is
headed by Ilia Kutidze, who now lives in Moscow where he works for
RAO-UES.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports on Rustavi-2 that the director
of Sakrusenergo Maisuardze may be dismissed from his post when Rappaport
next visits Tbilisi, and replaced by former Premier of Tbilisi Gia
Sheradze.
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