Russia Stages Raid Near Key Oil Pipeline
August 9th, 2008Via: AFP:
Russian warplanes on Saturday staged a raid near a major international oil pipeline that runs through Georgia but did not damage it, Georgia’s prime minister said.
The 1,774-kilometre (1,109-mile) Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline is the world’s second longest and takes oil from Azerbaijan to Western markets.
Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told Georgian television: “The area of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline was bombed by Russian planes. Miraculously, the pipeline was not damaged.”
The BTC has a capacity of 1.2 million barrels of oil a day but is currently shut down after an explosion in a Turkish section which has been claimed by Kurdish rebels.