|
 As
Alvaro González, captain of the Bosco Tapias,
waited three weeks for a 30-vessel traffic jam
to clear so he could begin the treacherous
journey through the Bosporus and Dardanelles
straits, he used the time to get his 274-meter
oil tanker shipshape.
"Maintenance, cleaning and
painting are the usual activities when the
tanker is anchored waiting," he said. But for
the oil companies that have hired the tanker,
there is nothing usual about the task, or its
price tag: $50,000 (€40,000) a day.
Refiners in the Mediterranean are
suffering one of the worst and most costly
shortages of oil since the Gulf war in 1991.
The reason for the delays, of up
to 25 days since the start of the gridlock in
the Turkish straits in December, is a mix of
environmental, security and geopolitical factors
which few industries other than oil face to such
a degree.
"Shipping across the Bosporus
straits is like sailing in a canyon, you see
land from portside to starboard. It's really
narrow and highly risky," says Captain Miguel
Mendoza, chief of operations of the Naviera
Tapias, the company that owns the Bosco Tapias.
"The most crowded area is
Istanbul. Oil tankers have to contend with the
city's tourist ferries, small fishing boats,
cargo ships, commuter ferries darting from one
side to the other. For the people in Istanbul,
crossing at the same time as an oil tanker may
be usual. For us, it is highly unusual."
Collisions and groundings are the
most frequent accidents for a waterway that at
its narrowest point could not fit a tanker
lengthwise.
The doubling of oil exports from
Russia in eight years, and the rush of oil
expected from the Caspian have worried Turkish
authorities and international oil companies,
whose reputations ride on their safety record.
Together with BP, Ankara has
pushed for the construction of the
Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, a $3bn project that
is about to get the backing of 15 commercial
banks, after securing the support of development
banks in the US and Europe in October.
European oil executives blame the
jam in the Bosporus in part on new Turkish
regulations.
They say the rules have at least
as much to do with the country's campaign to
speed the pipeline's construction and maintain
Turkey's unique geopolitical importance as one
of the region's most important oil export points
as they do with environmental safety and
terrorism concerns.
"Turkey wants more pipelines to
reinforce its geostrategic position and, at the
same time, gain access to fees from the oil
transit in the pipelines, essential for the
economic recovery of the country," said one
foreign oil executive who dealt with Turkey's
energy policies.
The Turks have been willing to
use the Bosporus as a lever before.
Tansu Çiller, former Turkish
prime minister, in 1995 threatened western
governments that "not a drop of oil would pass
through the Bosporus" if Turkey lost the
pipeline.
This battle over control of the
Caspian's oil and natural gas riches has raged
since the early 1990s, with the US backing a
system of pipelines that would bypass Iran as
well as reduce Moscow's grip over countries such
as Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
One of the starkest examples of
Russia's resolve and Turkey's ability to play
both sides is the struggle over Tajikistan's
natural gas exports.
After almost a decade, Tajikistan
lost its campaign to sever its dependency on
Russia by building the Trans Caspian pipeline to
Baku with the help of Royal Dutch/Shell, General
Electric and the support of the US government.
The fight cost the country an 85 per cent plunge
in its natural gas production.
Tajikistan finally relented in
2000 and agreed a 15 year contract with Russia
after its Trans Caspian pipeline was rendered
uneconomic when Russia, Turkey and Italy agreed
a competing Russian pipeline beneath the Black
Sea, an industry executive explained.
Refiners and tanker captains
waiting for the 30-ship backlog in the Bosporus
and Dardanelles straits to clear sympathise with
Turkey's security concerns, but like Tajikistan
before them they believe they are also the
victims of geopolitical manoeuvring. |
