Earthtimes.org
Analysis: Oil pollution in the Caspian
Posted : Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:37:49 GMT
Author : General News Editor
Category : US (World)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 The Caspian is the world’s most easily accessible
major oil region yet to be fully developed. Both Western nations and
former Soviet republics are rushing to exploit its vast hydrocarbon
wealth.
Environmental issues are increasingly moving to the forefront of this
exploitation. While nations bordering the Caspian piously insist that
environmental worries top their list of concerns, cynics maintain that
environmental issues are a facade for the nations to rewrite what they
have come to regard as increasingly exploitative production-sharing
agreements signed in the heady days following the implosion of the
Soviet empire. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
The Caspian is the world’s largest enclosed body of water, with a
surface area of 143,244 square miles. Its pollution comes from three
sources: inflowing rivers bringing contaminants from their watershed
area, offshore oil production platforms and the rising Caspian tanker
trade.
As for riverine pollutants, the bulk comes from Russia. As the Volga
flows through Russia’s European heartland, and 11 of Russia’s 20
largest cities are along its bank and watershed, the river is the
major source of the Caspian’s pollution from aging Soviet industrial
complexes.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Caspian
was divided between the Soviet Union and Iran; now Russia, Iran,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan share its waters, and have yet
to agree to a definitive division of its offshore waters. The two most
prominent rising Caspian petro-states are Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan,
which have increased their output in the last 15 years by 70 percent.
All five nations now operate tankers on the Caspian that pollute by
discharging bilge water and sloppy loading techniques. The largest
tanker trader is the Caspian Shipping Co. of the Azerbaijani Republic,
or CASPAR. But other states are developing tanker capabilities, most
notably Kazakhstan’s Kazmortransflot, which in August 2005 launched
its first tanker, the $18.75 million Astana. In 2001 Turkmenistan
received its first 5,000-ton tanker, built in Turkey, for transiting
oil through its Caspian ports of Turkmenbashi, Alaja and Ekerem.
While both Russia and Iran maintain modest Caspian tankers fleets,
they remain relatively insignificant, as most of their oil exports
move via pipelines to the Black Sea and Persian Gulf respectively for
export. A year ago, however, the head of Iran’s National Iranian
Tanker Co. said his company ordered six oil tankers to carry oil from
Caspian Sea littoral states to Iran’s Caspian Neka port.
The U.S. administration has belatedly realized that a "green"
environmental policy could prove popular in allied Caspian riverine
nations. On Sept. 12, U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ann Derse met
with ecological non-governmental organization heads in Sumgayit. She
told reporters, "Sumgayit residents … face ecological problems. We
also carried out debates on eliminating ecological problems existing
since Soviet period. I will discuss this issue with Sumgayit city
leadership." At the same briefing, Sumgayit Ecological Rehabilitation
Center Arif Director Islamzada said, "Representatives of NGOs gave
thorough information to ambassador about the ecological condition of
Sumgayit."
Other Caspian nations are also playing the environmental card, most
notably Kazakhstan, which on Aug. 27 suspended the Eni SpA-led
consortium’s license, which has ballooned from an initial estimate of
$57 billion development cost to an estimated $136 billion, a move many
analysts attribute to an effort to influence negotiations to increase
Kazakhstan’s share of the development contract amid reports that
Almaty is seeking at least $10 billion in compensation for production
delays and cost overruns.
The environmental impact of increased oil drilling in the Caspian has
been well documented, however, with pollution hurting sturgeon stocks
and the freshwater Caspian seal population. Nor are the former Soviet
states the only Caspian nations to notice environmental
degradation. On Sept. 16, Iran’s Press TV reported that Mohammad-Reza
Qaderi, director of Iran’s Ports and Shipping Organization Marine
Protection unit, said oil pollution tar balls had washed ashore at
Iran’s Caspian Anzali’s port shoreline, telling journalists, "Our
experts have discovered semisolid oil lumps otherwise known as tar
balls. These tar balls polluted coastal areas near Anzali following a
Caspian storm last month," adding that cleanup efforts were under way.
Despite solemn commitments to environment issues, the short-term
situation for the Caspian’s ecological health remains grim, as all
nations there have announced major development projects. In February,
Kazakhstan’s Transportation Minister announced that over the next five
years it intends to spend more than $860 million to develop its
merchant marine, ports and infrastructure and that "by 2012 the
merchant fleet will consists of 20 tankers and five dry cargo ships as
well as 150 service ships," while Azeri Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev
announced Azerbaijan plans to double its oil output, reaching 65
million tons annually by 2010. Given that more than 80 percent of
Azerbaijan’s oil is produced from offshore Caspian fields, the
environmental implications are ominous. Even Russia, the Commonwealth
of Independent States’ oil superpower, is expanding its maritime
activities. Last November Russian President Vladimir Putin told a
meeting devoted to shipbuilding industry issues that his
administration prioritized the construction of oil platforms and
tankers.
The lack of a coordinated international policy on environmental
issues, combined with a decaying infrastructure, corruption and
massive investment all seem destined in the short term to create more
environmental problems than might be solved by rampant development
schemes.
Enthusiasts of the Caspian’s other "black gold," caviar, should take
note: Earlier this year the five main caviar exporters — Azerbaijan,
Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan — agreed to reduce the
catch quota for beluga sturgeon, setting a limit on export of 3,761 kg
of beluga, the world’s most valuable caviar. As Kashagan is in a
nature reserve and a breeding ground for beluga sturgeon, caviar,
already more than $800 per 100 grams, is likely soon to be out of the
reach of all except oil company executives.
(e-mail: energy@upi.com)