Georgia conflict threat to strategic energy supplies

 PARIS (AFP) - Fighting in Georgia threatens a strategic energy hub, the IEA warned on Tuesday, shortly before Georgia said Russia had attacked a pipeline normally
carrying up to a million barrels of oil a day westwards.
The International Energy Agency said that events in Georgia had not affected the price of oil, but stressed the significance of the region to energy supplies.
“Recent escalation in military engagement between Russia and Georgia poses a threat to certain key oil and gas pipelines which transit Georgia,� the International
Energy Agency said.
Two hours after the report was published, Georgia said that Russian aircraft had attacked the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the second such attack since Sunday, but
said it did not know if the pipe had been damaged.
Russia denied it had made any deliberate attack.
At the IEA, supply analyst David Fyfe, speaking shortly before the Georgian claim, said: “There have been no deliberate attempts to damage that pipeline.�
He said: “We think it (any attack) would be counter active... even though it can happen in a conflict.� The BTC pipeline usually carried 800,000-900,000 barrels per day,
he said.
Events “demonstrate that it is a volatile region, it is a crucial region for getting Caspian oil to consumer markets.�
The IEA said that the BTC pipeline was one of the strategic energy supply lines in Georgia.
It also listed the South Caucusus pipeline carrying up to 8.8 billion cubic metres of Azeri natural gas per year to Georgia and Turkey, and the Black Sea ports of
Batumi, Supsa and Poti, and a new port at Kulevi, which “are also important export terminals.�
More oil travelled westwards across Georgia by rail.
“With negligible domestic oil production, unlike some of its Caspian neighbours, Georgia’s significance to global oil and gas markets is as a transit corridor,� the
IEA underlined. The IEA said that while the “threat of an attack on the BTC (Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan) pipeline poses the bigger risk to oil markets, it is clear that more
generally, Georgia is a key energy transit hub in the Caucasus region and a country of significant strategic importance to energy markets.
The recent closure of the BTC pipeline through southern Georgia, because of an attack claimed by Turkish insurgents, and then the fighting between Georgia and