September 18, 2002 - 23:06 AMT
BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN PROJECT "HAS INSUFFICIENT OIL SUPPLY AND ECONOMICALLY UNPROFITABLE"
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project "has insufficient oil supply and is economically unprofitable." The project of laying pipeline to transport Azeri oil through the Georgian territory to Turkey was assessed this way by Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov when addressing the forum of Eurasian group in New York, Caspian News Agency reports. "We are ready to cooperation, but if attempts are made to force Russia out of the regions, where we have historical interests, we will not accept it," - the minister said. In his words, the Russian-American interaction in realizing project of oil transportation from Kazakhstan to Novorossiysk is a positive example of such cooperation.